I don't think I'd want to be an actual subatomic-particle physicist or a bona fide neurosurgeon. But I sure would like to be an abstract painter and art critic who's fluently bilingual, can comprehend the pages with the funny little symbols on them in the popular science books, is able to rattle off soliloquies by Shakespeare and quote from the Latin poems of Milton, and relaxes in the studio by plucking out a Rodrigo concerto on his Cordoba C10 Guitar.
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Snow is melting! All last night we could hear it dripping off the roof. This makes me very happy.

My Beloved has been driving me to work this week.
Partly because he's on vacation
And partly because it's so cold (and his car has a spot in the warm garage!)

I like car pooling!
I like getting a hug just before I start work
I like the extra 15 minutes of time with him
I like not having to leave 15 minutes early to scrape ice off my car (and let it warm up).
I like not having to drive
And I like the car pool lane (which cuts the commute down by about a third!)
I also love My Beloved !

Ramona Quimby books were among my favorite in 2nd and 3rd grade.
Do you remember when Ramona wore her jammies to school? She got a BRAND NEW pair of pjs (not hand-me-downs from her sister) and wore them to bed. The next morning she was so snuggly happy that she decided to put her clothes on over her jammies and go to school. (Alas, when she got to school it was very uncomfortable - but that's not important to this story).

This morning it was COLD.
Super duper COLD.
And while I know that real clothes are warmer than pajamas, I really didn't want to take off my warm jammies and put on clothes. I wanted to put clothes on over the pajamas and go to work all warm and snuggly.

Alas, I am not Ramona.
And one can't wear pajamas to work.
But one can remember Ramona and smile!

O what sweeter music can we bring
than a carol for to sing
the birth of this our heavenly king?
Awake the voice! Awake the king!

Being a newly wed is a lot like adolesence.
I was a stubborn teenager - firecly fighting for my independence.
And then I got old, found a job, moved out . . . . and things got better.

EXCEPT . . . . I ran off and got married.
And I'm still stubborn, and still want to do things my way.
And My Beloved is almost as stubborn and set in his ways.
The struggles feel a lot like the arguments I had with my parents YEARS and YEARS ago.

PLUS this marriage-thing gives you get a whole new set of parents - - which requires navigating a whole new set of parent/child relationships. . . . only we aren't children.

sigh . . .. yes, I 'm tired and cranky.
Things will be better tomorrow.

I realize that Feb. 26 is probably a little too early to be wishing (asking/begging) for the end of snow storms. But a girl has to have hope!

Wouldn't it be lovely if this was the last snow of the season?
It doesn't even have to be warm - I'll take a snowless 33 degrees for a couple of weeks!
But I'm really tired of the snow and wish it would just go away!

Wedding planning is going slowly.
There are so many things I just don't care about
I just want to get married - not worry about ribbons for the favors!
But this piece was just the thing to brighten my day.
Excerpt posted here for my future reference/benefit!

Pretty much everything in the world is unnecessary. I'm tempted to say everything in this world is unnecessary, but I'll wait to the end to say that.

For starters, pork loin in a tomatillo & chipotle sauce is unnecessary. So are pine cones. Golf is unnecessary. Golf really is unnecessary. The accordian is unnecessary. Churches sitting on the edge of a hill overlooking a bay of water are unnecessary. Panes of glass reaching 20 feet into the air. Black and white photography. An Armani suit. An Ethiopian gold cross. Medieval chanting in Latin. All unnecessary.

You know what else is unnecessary? The 1662 Book of Common Prayer. It's nice, but not necessary. Not really. Seriously. We appreciate it. It helps us, but ultimately unnecessary. And priests? They're not necessary either--not to formalize a marriage vow. That only happened post Council of Trent.

The Celtic goose and the paisley design and a 10 Year-Old Tawny port are unnecessary. John Keble's poetry is unnecessary and he lived from 1792-1866, so he should know. China is definitely unnecessary--both kinds.

The cha-cha-cha is ridiculous. Nobody needs cha-cha-cha. Nobody would ever die if cha-cha-cha never existed. And I hate to say this, ladies, but chocolote is thoroughly unnecessary. Not milk, not white, not dark, not bitter, not any frufy kind of it, none of it. Deal with it.

All the flowers in this world are categorically unnecessary. They don't need us, we don't need them. I wish them gone.

Small talk is out. Trucks should never have been invented in the first place. And calligraphy is for people who can't handle the straight truth.

Glitter is for sissies.

And every single thing I've mentioned here is a part of our wedding. None of it is necessary, not a lick of it.

You may think I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I'm dead serious. You know the only thing we need to be wedded? It's this: I stand in front of Phaedra, she in front of me, and we say, "Do you want to get married? Yes." And we're married. That's it. Two people witness it and we're through. Worked for the first family east of Eden, works for us.

We don't need colors, we don't need fancy sounds, we don't need tasty foods, we don't need special movement, we don't need flowers that smell good. We don't need art. We don't.

And we don't need frolicking underwear.
That was bonus.

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My Beloved and I made (and then ate) these fries last night.
And they were yummy!
You should try it out RIGHT NOW

4 medium potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Cut the potatoes into long strips, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch on each side. Toss with olive oil. Add seasoning and toss again to coat.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, tossing several times during the cooking process. The fries are done when they are a light brown, cooked through and a bit crispy on the outside.

If you find your working relationships deteriorate as the day wears on, take a nap. In a study yet to be published, Matt Walker from the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues showed people pictures of faces expressing different emotions, including fear, anger, sadness and happiness, and asked them to rate how emotional they thought these faces were. They did this at midday and again at 6 pm. Participants were significantly more sensitive to angry and fearful faces at the second session. However, this change did not happen if volunteers were allowed a 90-minute lunchtime nap during which they managed to achieve REM sleep. What's more, these people also became more receptive to happy faces. Walker concludes that REM sleep refreshes our civilising emotional reactions. "Sleep is essentially changing the magnetic north of your emotional compass, in a good way," he says. Full Article

"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to ,ake us love one another"
- Jonathan Swift

This weekend the temperatures (and wind chills!) were above freezing.
AND fresh ripe strawberries were on sale at the grocery store

I know this seems little and insignificant - but having lots of sunlight, and the "springy smell" of melting snow, and the juicy taste of fresh strawberries (in February!) make for a happy Julie.

There's still a long way to go until spring. But tody was a refreshing break from winter that made me happy!

And thus concludes this mundane tale.

I find it odd that people who wouldn't be my real life friend 20 years ago suddenly want to be my facebook friend now? I'm still the same dorky kid I was in 5th grade (except I live in a colder climate!)

I have reached the point in the wedding planning process where eloping is really looking like a good idea. I'm trying to keep things simple and am very lucky that my mom and My Beloved's mom are pretty laid back in letting me do what I want. But the rest of the world (including people who don't even know me) are not shy about telling me everything that I ought to do (or telling other people what I should want!)

But I'm not going to whine. . . there are enough happy things going on to keep me from running off to Vegas with my beloved. And the people who matter are giving me help when I need it (and space when I don't!)

* I am so very happy to be marrying a man who inspires me, protects me, loves me, and sweeps me off my feet (literally and figuratively). He is someone who makes me so very happy, someone will tell me stories whenever I ask, someone who plays with The Kitty, and someone who can deal with Stubborn Julie! I am the luckiest kid in the universe!

* I am going to have some fabulous friends doing the ceremony music. It is looking like I'll have a flute, violin, cello trio playing some stuff together as well as some solo stuff with piano accompaniment. (And Pachabell Cannon / Jesu Joy are NOT on the list of music!)

* My sister made me a mixed tape of stress relieving songs (including the song "Shut up" and Headstrong as well as Don't Worry Be Happy!

* Finding a place for the ceremony was initially a challenge (the mega-church were I occasionally attend services is not the most wedding-friendly place - AND they require couples to attend group classes which are only offered once or twice a year and seem to be at the most inconvenient times!) HOWEVER, my parent's church is graciously allowing us to use their space (and for much cheaper than we could get anywhere else!)

* For several reasons (outlined in a seperate post) I am not going to a bridal store to find a pre-made dress (which will just require too much money and millions of alternations). Rather I found a nice dress pattern (and Dear "ole Dad helped me find a seamstress) who will make me a beautifully elegant dress. (It's a very pretty dress, and I'm happy that I don't have to have a crew of people dressing me, or hoisting up the skit when I need to use the bathroom!)

* The big day is less than five months away!

* I am so very lucky to have a sister-in-law who is a pastry chef. (I am going to have the yummiest bestest wedding cheesecake EVER!)