I won first and second place in Challenge 66, the metallics challenge, over at bloodtiesstills. That's not as impressive as it sounds. Only one other person entered. Here are my first and second place icons:



I thought the second one was much better than the first, but it's Mike, and Mike rarely beats Henry out in the challengess. I also entered this one, which I thought turned out pretty well:



This icon was selected as Mod's Choice in Challenge 67:



I also entered these icons in Challenge 67:



All the icons had to be made from two pre-selected screencaps, one of Henry and one of Mike. I thought the last one above was the most interesting one I submitted, but it got no votes. Of course, it's Mike looking goofy, and he's competing with semi-naked Henry. So he was doomed from the start. ;-)

( Look at this amazing hat! )

The starting bid was only $4.99, so I bid on it. It will make a great hat to use for the Dragon*con assemblage. And it will gives everyone an extra choice of hats.

I was preparing my rant, because...

( Cut for PR spoilers )

What? Somebody had to say it. ;-) Apparently, she made landfall as a category 2 storm.

ETA: It's official. My organization endorsed Barack Obama at its annual rep assembly, so we are now sporting an Obama for President sign in front of the building. :-)

Is anyone on my flist familiar with these products? I love the Royal Extract line, but I had always resisted buying any of the products, because, although they're very beautifully packaged, they're a tad expensive. Well, I broke down last week and bought an elegant glass shaker of dusting powder. And I love it! I've decided that Royal Extract will be my summer scent this year, instead of my traditional Nantucket Briar (Crabtree and Evelyn).

I settled three case this morning. w00t!

I think Jonas may have gone a little too clipper happy on my last visit. How short is my hair? If I was to join the U.S. Marines, the Marine barber would take on look at me and say, "Girl, you can't go through the line a second time."

Yes, that short.

I had a strange dream last night, where I believed that, if I could wake up exactly at 7 a.m., I would win something amazing. I didn't, and now I can't remember what I would have won. But it was pretty amazing.

ETA: And now a fourth case has resolved itself. I'm on a roll!

Thanks to everyone for the good advice on my burn. After immediately applying cool water and a little Polysporin right before bed, my burn is much improved. It's no longer red and swollen, and it doesn't hurt, unless I brush it against something rough or apply heat (as in blow-drying my hair). I just have two furrows branded into the edge of my left hand.

I'm wearing another one of my new dress...black/white/yellow polka dots. I love polka dots. I'm also wearing one of the cool vintage expandable bracelets that were so popular when I was a little girl. My Aunt Jean had several of them, and they just fascinated me as a child.

Sigh. My clients always think that exposing "scandals" involving other employees will somehow help in their defense on unrelated charges. But it never improves their situation. If it does anything, at all, it only gets someone else in trouble.

I burned the holy hell out of my hand while I was fixing supper. Typing is now extremely problematic. Fortunately, it was my left hand, but damn. It really hurts, and I don't have any burn salve or gauze.

Yes, I bought more shoes. Try to look surprised.

When I was at Janice Ann's a week ago, I discovered a new shoe brand--Onex shoes. They're leather, they're made in the USA, and they're just about the most comfortable little slides I have ever worn.

This style is called ( Gwen ), and yes, the heels are trimmed in silver. I wore them to church today. I also bought a pair of golden bronze Onex, but I couldn't find a picture. I did find these white ones, called ( Bree ), on Ebay. Aren't the heels fabulous? Unfortunately, with shipping, they would be over $100. :-\ So no Bree for me.

Yet.

Disclaimer: I have very little respect for the WSJ editorial board.

According to the Wall Street Journal, white flight is at an end. And all I have to say is this...apparently, the WSJ didn't do any research for this article in in Memphis, Tennessee. :-\

Edward James Olmos is coming to Dragon*con!!!!! =:-o

The Blondes were in church today. The Blondes are two tall, beautiful, well-dressed gay men. I'm not sure if they're a couple, but I'd confidently put a couple of bucks on it. Anyway, I was ushering this morning, and The Blondes both smiled at me as I directed them out of the pew to go take the Eucharist. Which I, of course, took as the gay stamp of approval on my ensemble. :-)

And it wasn't only the gays. A woman parishioner who I didn't know told me I looked just beautiful as passed by me to take her seat, and one of the celebrants came up to me after service to say that she usually doesn't notice what people wear, but that I looked exceptional today.

Consider my ego sufficiently stroked. :-)

I give credit to my new mocha bra and my new black/white dress (from Peebles, where I buy most of my dresses). The fabric is black with small white polka dots, tiny puffed sleeves, and an empire waist. The empire waist is a Godsend to those of us with fibroids, because it hides a multitude of sins.

My necklace also excited quite a bit of comment. It's a bead-trimmed pendant with a ( black/white photograph of Bessie Smith ). I didn't know it was Bessie Smith, until Ben, one of the other ushers, asked me if it was her. I said it could be, and then I asked Delores, who is one of our canons and an older black woman. She confirmed that it was, indeed, Bessie Smith. It's part of the Hotcakes Designs series of vintage photo jewelry. If you've never visited the Hotcakes Designs website, I recommend it. They're a US manufacturer, and they make great costume jewelry.

You know those amazing blue bras of mine? The ones that make me look like I have actual boobage? Well, blue, as you may know, is not always a good color for undergarments. It tends to show through white and cream, so I went snorfling around on Ebay early this week and found some more of those bras in different colors. I bought three white ones and a mocha one. Two of the white ones arrived yesterday, and they are totally faboo!

I really feel like a nap, but I know better than to sleep during the day. I'll wake up jittery and disoriented, which sucks.

I may go visit Mike tonight. He's laid up after having knee surgery this week. He really needs a keeper, because he can't seem to get it through his thick head that he's supposed to park his ass on the couch and recover.

Huzzah! What a relief. Plus, Jonas gives the best shampoo. And the clippers tickle. :-D

I am drowning in work. Drowning. It looks like another Sunday in the office for me. Rats.

I'm also tired, which is unusual. I'm rarely ever tired in the afternoon. :-\

On the way to work this morning, I saw one of those quintessential Nashville sights. I was driving up 5th Avenue by the Country Music Hall of Fame, and I saw this guy walking south on the sidewalk. He was tall and slim, and he was wearing a black T-shirt, black jeans, black boots, black cowboy hat, and an open blue shirt. If I was a betting woman, I would bet he writes his own songs. ;-)

Did you watch "Burn Notice last night? Well, did you?

( Burn Notice comments )

I'm wearing another new dress today. From Peeble's, where I buy most of my dresses, and it's pretty retro. A short (three-four inches above the knee) sheath in a royal blue/white/black Pucci-esque print ending in a harlequin print at the hem and sleeves. It has a scoop neck edged in black and slightly belled sleeves, and it looks like it stepped straight out of a 1969 Harper's Bazaar photo shoot.

I also have on new shoes, which I bought at Janice Ann's when I was in Knoxville last week--black pointy-toed slingbacks with dense white embroidery on the upper. Very cool.

So, I stop to get gas this morning, because I have to drive to Selmer later today, and I decide to go inside the market and get a diet Coke and a donut. As I walk up to the door in my short little dress and my pointy little shoes, a black woman about my age (I think--who can tell with black women? They don't appear to age, at all, from 20 to 60.) holds the door for me. I say thanks, and she leans in and says, "You wear that dress, girl. You wear that dress. I would." I'm not entirely sure, but I think it was a compliment. ;-)

I should note that I don't have great legs for a dress like this. I do, however, have relatively slim ankles and hips, which give me the illusion of having better legs than I actually do. And the sexy new shoes don't hurt. :-)

I'm listening to a great book on CD, and I hope to finish it on the way to Selmer. It's "Burning Bright", by Tracy Chevalier. I've also listened to her books, "Virgin Blue" and "The Lady and the Unicorn", and I'm eventually going to listen to "Girl in a Pearl Earring". She's not an author that I would necessarily read, if given a choice, but I love listening to her books being read. I don't know why they seem more interesting in audio format, but they do. Maybe it's because her books always have excellent readers.

Rush is playing "Tom Sawyer" on the Stephen Colbert Show!

RULES:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you 5 questions of a personal nature.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.


These are the questions that lightz474 asked me to answer:

1. What is your favorite episode of Blood Ties?

Hmmm...that's tough. I'd say it's a toss-up between "5:55" and "The Devil You Know".

2. If you could live any where in the world where would it be and why?

Definitely in the mountains, probably my beloved Smokey Mountains. Since I've moved to Nashville, I miss the mountains dreadfully. I actually lived in the valley, but you can't have a valley without a mountain, and I spent a lot of happy days as a girl wandering around the Smokies. There is nothing that smells as good to me as the mountains after it rains.

3. If you had to give up your career right now and get a new one what would it be and you couldn't have the same one as before?

I'd be a trainer, I think. Not because it's a dream job, but because I'm pretty good at it. OTOH, if I didn't have to worry about actually making a living, I'd like to run a B&B in an interesting part of the world.

4. If you got trapped on a remote deserted island with 3 people who would they be?

This is selfish, because it means trapping them on a desert island, but:
My mother, Ann, because she is a most restful and nuturing presence.
My secretary, Jeanette, because she is probably my closest woman friend.
A good-looking man with nice manners who fixes things.

5. What is your absolute favorite thing to eat for dinner?

A hot, flavorful soup, crusty bread, sharp cheese, a lightly dressed salad, and a really good wine.

Yesterday, after I finished my real work at the office, I wasted 30-40 minutes on YouTube listening to different covers of Leonard Cohen's song, "Hallelujah". And I have decided that, although there are good covers (k.d.lang), and there are bad covers (Rufus Wainwright), if Jeff Buckley was still alive, Congress should issue a binding resolution stating that he is the only singer ever allowed to sing that song within the confines of the United States, in perpetuity. Because his cover is simply sublime.

I had a revelation this morning, but before I reveal it, I need to set the stage. Now, I grew up on Batman. I read some of the comics as a kid, I collected the trading cards, and I watched (and adored) the campy Adam West television show. In fact, one of my earliest "school" memories is sitting in the wooden rocking boat in kindergarten class, with three other children, rocking and singing the Batman television theme.

So I was at the convenience mart this morning, and I saw a picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker on the cover of USA Today, and I suddenly realized that the Joker isn't really a "joker", i.e. a jester. He's a scary clown. How is it possible that I haven't picked up on this before now? Oh, sure, Cesar Romero's Joker wasn't very scary, and Jack Nicholson's Joker was basically crazy Jack Nicholson in whiteface, but I really should have made the connection before now. Duh.

And we all know what that means. Raise! Not much of a raise, as I have maxed out on the salary schedule, but $100 more a month is still $100 more a month.

We read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" for General Fic Group last night. Booooooring. Oh sure, if you were some literatus who had never, ever read a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel in your life, it might seem really profound and insightful, but it's been done. Quite often. And frequently better.

I have so much to do at the office that I'm losing track of it all. This is not good. I have a pro-forma hearing this afternoon that I completely missed when I reviewed all the stuff that piled up during my vacation. I just hope I can manage to get my heavily-medicated client to the hearing.

I'm using this gradual tanning lotion from Avon on my legs, and it's really working. And without turning orange or creasing. I stand amazed.

On lightly tanned legs. :-)

It's just like this one, but in a more Pucci-esque print, in aubergine/purple/magenta/white/black. And it was made in the USA, which always thrills me.

I desperately need a haircut, but my schedule is so crazy full that I don't know when I could manage to fit in an appointment. I also need to have some work done on the house, and I have the same problem. This is what happens when I have the unmitigated gall to go on vacation.

Fortuantely, my 10 o'clock seems to have forgotten that we had an appointment, which has freed up some time for me. Hey, I take my breaks where I can find them.

Now, back to the grindstone.

To be perfectly honest, this surprised me. Cadged from annastesia:


Your results:
You are Han Solo

Han Solo 78% Luke Skywalker 69% Lando Calrissian 66% Boba Fett 62% R2-D2 61% Princess Leia 60% C-3PO 60% Darth Vader 59% Jar Jar Binks 59% Chewbacca 58%

Even though you've been described as reckless, selfish and cocky, you're the type of person others love to be around. People like you because you're a scoundrel.

(This list displays the top 10 results out of a possible 21 characters)


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