Giving Out Grades

Moving report card:

New apartment: A-

onsite pool/hot tub and gym.

24-hour maintenance.

no yard work required.

close to jobs.

smaller.

Our moving crew: A++

Hannah = worth two grown men.

Girl gets things DONE.

Emily = muscles and moral support.

Cheerful, smiley, and strong.

My packing skills: C-

needs constant supervision.

loses focus easily.

packs items haphazardly.

The Mister's packing skills: A+

packs things neatly, quickly and securely.

self-motivated.

cute. (oops, wrong list)

Arizona: F-

107 degreees.

Almost October.

That.

Is.

Ridiculous.

My Weekend in Pictures

Last weekend the Mister and I hopped on a plane to Maryland to hang out with the fam.

We got to do lots of fun things. Our weekend included:

Pumpkin spice lattes...fall in a cup.

Rain; glorious, life-giving rain.

Crabs. I ate half the Chesapeake's supply I think. Crabs caked in Old Bay and dipped in melted butter....help me Rhonda.

Early Christmas gift exchange with the nephews and neice - seeing their little faces light up isn't a sight that we can pass up.



Oh yes...and it was my birthday. Bring it on, 24. You are going to be a good year. I just know it.

Femininity

I've been thinking a lot lately about womanhood. About how, in 2009, women are still second-class citizens in much of the world. I'm not just talking about the third world, by the way. A militant feminist I am not, but pro-woman I am indeed, if by that we mean that women get paid the same amount for the same job, that they aren't shunted out of leadership roles and valued less than men. (is that being pro-woman? or is that just...normal? it feels like I'm saying I'm pro-yellow. Why would anyone have a reason to think that there's something wrong with yellow in the first place? Especially if yellow gave birth to all the other colors. But I digress.)

Madeleine Albright blasted Saudi Arabia for their treatment of women in the late 90s. A notable voice responded, saying :

"I am not sure whether a culture in which women are draped in burqas and are not allowed on the streets except for specific reasons respects human dignity less than a culture in which women are dressed in g-strings and paid to dance on tables"

Ziiiiiiiing.

Now, please understand my point and the point of the speaker. This is no suggestion that Saudi is any great protector of women's rights. The idea is simply one as old as time itself: Before you obsess over that splinter in your friend's eye, make sure that you don't have 10 splinters in your own.

Calling All Chemists

Sometimes I wish there were a special potion that I could drink that would magically make me decisive.

I can't help but think there's another option out there that might be better - whether it's ice cream flavor (cinnamon or cake batter?), what to read (fiction or nonfiction?) or, the current decision, our next little home (apartment or condo?).

If someone could get back to me on that potion, that would be great.

This Weekend:

We had a lovely, lovely weekend in Coronado.

It involved:

• Walks on the beach


• Sleeping with the back doors wide open to let in the sound of the crashing ocean


• Wearing a sweatshirt (so exciting!)


• Finding a "dirt" scented candle in a little boutique shop. (Uh-huh, you heard me. Dirt.)


• Many long, meandering, deep conversations with our dear friends and hosts, Rick and Joan


• Ice cream (cake batter ice cream with cookie dough mixed in...it's called "all lovin' no oven")


• Sorbet (The Mister and lactose don't mix so well, so you know...I had to express my solidarity with him by eating some sorbet too. Lemon sorbet mixed with raspberry is simply dreamy)


• Getting dressed up and going to The Theater to see a play. I felt so...old money.


• Reading a lovely new book, "Cold Tangerines". It has a bright orange cover, with a juicy, vibrant-looking orange, and I couldn't help but feel that was a good omen.


• Watching the sun set over the ocean.


• Lots and lots of fresh salty sea air.


• No electronics of any kind - I even turned my cell phone off.


• Good memories.


• Boats.


• Lots of bugs smashed on the windshield.

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Peace out.

One Word. (Could YOU do it?)

A few months ago my friend Andrea recommended the book Eat, Pray, Love. (She knows I have a fondness for travel memoirs.)

In it, the author muses that every entity can be, in essence, boiled down to one word. People, cities, countries, you name it. She said she thought L.A. was "SUCCEED" and that New York was the subtly different "ACHIEVE". Then she said she thought Rome was "SEX".

That made me laugh.

It's an interesting concept though - what if I had to sum up the direction of my life in one word? Could you do it?

Sometimes I get inspired - and I think my word might be "CREATE".

Sometimes I get annoyed by my own unceasing curiosity and I bitterly reflect that I might be doomed to a while lifetime of "ASK" (slash "QUESTION", but that brings up a whole other set of issues).

Then I think that the questioning has certainly gotten me places so far, and hopefully will still in the future, seeing as it appears that I won't be able to turn my brain off anytime soon (except when watching American Idol, but that is another story), and that my word had better be "EXPLORE".

And then I get realistic. And I think about how I am really a bit of a daydreamer at heart, and if I am going to have a single word, an action verb really is wishful thinking. And so then, in those moments, I think that my word just might be "IMAGINE".