Pictures are fun!

I linked to some new pictures (under the Pictures heading to the right for those who are navigationally challenged). First link is our visit to North Carolina - some nice pics of Bryan's niece and good Southern spelling. The second link is to Nicole's wedding where I did a terrible job of playing photographer. The pics are appallingly bad. Enjoy!

Happenings

Since I last blogged:

Corissa came to town.
Nicole got married.
We ate A LOT of delicious Italian food.
I bounced in a moonwalk with 9 other bridesmaids and one kick-ass bride.
I karaokeed, once with 6 other people and once somewhat alone.
I witnessed a wedding guest puking into her own hand.
Corissa left town and so did we.
Flew to North Carolina for some O'Connor time.
Drank A LOT of Yuengling.
Heard one of the best renditions of "Tinkle, Tinkle Little Star" in a while.
Watched two great movies (The Incredibles & Finding Neverland).
Got very excited to watch Bryan DANCE competitively (Dance, Dance Revolution); played Hoopla instead upon DDR malfunction.
Saw enough pottery to last me at least a year.
Utterly confused a southern waitress by asking for bread.
Watched minor league dingers (Greensboro Grasshoppers).
Flew home.
Got a few steps closer to booking our reception, caterer and church.
Started a "Save the Date" card.
Worked one whole day.
Blogged about it all.

Now, I am off for the weekend - dinner with friends tonight, lunch with some of Bryan's family tomorrow, dinner with my dad tomorrow night and Connecticut on Sunday to see Sheri's show Remember When. Phew, I'm tired already. Have a good one.

Plans

This weekend, we're off to what should be the final wedding of the 'friends of Jill' portion of the program. Course, 'friends of Bryan' are just starting to get engaged, so we're not out of the wedding era yet, which is not a bad thing since I do like to shake my groove thing on wedding dance floors. Upon our return home, we will immediately pack our bags for a few days of wine drinking and game playing in North Carolina visiting our favorite O'Connors.

The Sox won last night despite the best efforts of an umpire to whom everyone should feel free to send hate mail. His name is Greg Gibson and a search on MLB shows that this is not the first call that he has blown. If you are so moved to comment on his ineptitude and bad umping, you can visit the MLB Umpire Page where you can ask a question - instead make a comment about this chump.
That's my public service for today; I hope that baseball is safer for it.

Inspiring

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to see Tori Amos in concert on Sunday night. The show was at the Bushnell in Hartford, which is a medium-sized venue, and it was packed. I was surprised to see such a mixed crowd, men and women, from teenagers to those in their 60s. When the concert began, I realized why so many people love this singer. I discovered Amos when I started college and I was immediately taken with her piano playing, her haunting, often times cachophonous voice, and her incisive lyrics. When the curtain opened, she was standing in a single spotlight, behind her was a baby grand piano and three organs, spread across the stage. She sat at her piano and began to sing. Wow! It was a transfixing performance, each song crisp and perfectly sung. I had the thought at one point that to be able to sing like that and to perform for other people so they could listen to the sound is such a gift. And it was such a gift to get to hear it - it was a bit addictive. If you love music and songwriting and amazing piano playing, I highly recommend going to see her live. The rock star inside of me was awakened.
Luckily, there will be karoake at Nicole's wedding this weekend, so if I'm fed enough alcohol, there may be a little 'singin' Jill' show. HAHA Don't get too excited, mom, I'm mostly kidding, though I really wish I could wail like that. Ahhh, someone has to tend the books though, and I am almost at rock-star status at that.

Happy Birthday dad and in case, I'm too busy (or lazy) to blog tomorrow, Happy Birthday to Sheri - you make 30 stand at attention and I'm green with envy, but I love ya.

****OH. MY. GOD. I can't believe I forgot to mention this: Britney Spears is having a baby!!!! EEEEEEEEEEE. Man, if that's not a recipe for one fucked up kid, Mom=one of the most talentless 'singers' who can't keep her pants on (and I mean that literally, when I watch her, I'm afraid they're actually gonna fall off) and Dad=a beer-swilling, skewed baseball hat-wearing, first wife-leaving, baby daddy 'dancer'. Somewhere, a therapist is biding his/her time.****

Mites up the nose

I inhaled enough dust today to form a giant bunny in my sinus canal. It is currently dancing a mambo. But, the apartment is now spanking clean (a strange expression, since not one body part was smacked in the cleaning process). I have planned a delicious dinner this evening for Kate and Matt, who are making the trek out to the 'ham on the commuter rail. And tomorrow I am going to see Tori Amos in concert in Hartford, CT. It will be the first time seeing her live and I'm looking forward to the show. I really like her new album, The Beekeeper though I'm not a fan of the 3rd song "The Power of Orange Knickers," which All Music marked as a Track Pick.

I'm off to marinate salmon.

Mites up the nose

I inhaled enough dust today to form a giant bunny in my sinus canal. It is currently dancing a mambo. But, the apartment is now spanking clean (a strange expression, since not one body part was smacked in the cleaning process). I have planned a delicious dinner this evening for Kate and Matt, who are making the trek out to the 'ham on the commuter rail. And tomorrow I am going to see Tori Amos in concert in Hartford, CT. It will be the first time seeing her live and I'm looking forward to the show. I really like her new album, The Beekeeper though I'm not a fan of the 3rd song "The Power of Orange Knickers," which All Music marked as a Track Pick.

I'm off to marinate salmon.

Spring ahead indeed!

The weather, the beginning of baseball season, the sight of a robin in a tree, the visibility of the sun after 6pm, the fact that I am wearing a skirt. For those who think that spring doesn't actually exist in New England, this week has brought unrefutable evidence that an attempt is at least made by Mother Nature to conjure this elusive season.

Aside from producing the highest gas-purchasing receipt I've seen for filling a Honda gas tank, our trip to Queensbury last weekend was delightful. Warren Carey was as entertaining as usual and Bryan and I crack ourselves up with her shark "bite" all the time (along the lines of what does a shark say? Followed by a great eating sound from the back of the throat that is hilarious coming from such a tiny face). We did get caught in the daylight savings time warfare. We were working on purchasing a pitcher of each type of beer at Deperate Annie's when, at 2am, it was suddenly 3am and last call was in 20 minutes. We valiantly ordered one more and managed to finish it before being 'urged' to leave the premises.

Oh, and the pope died. Wanking motion. So did Prince Ranier. Another wanking motion, though he and his family have provided slightly more entertainment through their slightly sordid personal lives. I was completely creeped out by the 'laying in state' of an 84 year old man in a dress. The creepiness was not relieved when some bishop or cardinal starting flicking water on each section of the body. Oh, it's holy water. Much better.

Happy Birthday Nicole! I can't wait to see you walk down that aisle. And to Jaron - who has no idea what what that last sentence means - Happy Birthday to you and that sweet ass of yours.

Fooling the fools

This week has been hectic.
I unpacked A LOT of books, papers and office stuff, not that fun, but necessary, and now I'm nice and organized.
I read many news cases about the 'right to life' and health proxies; I even received a letter from the lawyers who did our house closing about how they would be happy to draft a health proxy for me. I'll bet they would.
I ate dinner at the Italian-American club in my hometown, a place I had never before visited and probably won't again too soon. Dinner was degoddamnlicious, but the company, comprised of liquor store employees, bikers and those citizens over 70 (I actually went with my grandmother), was fun for the first 20 minutes and excrutiating for the last 2 hours.
Not that I needed it, but I had the knowledge that I am marrying a thoughtful, amazing man affirmed (tulips and irises delivered to my office).
And, sadly, I paid over $2 for gas for the first time since gas prices started rising higher than my 16 year-old cousin at Easter.

So, today is April Fools' Day and to blow off a little steam and spice up the workplace, I placed a few fake rats in some file drawers (with excellent results) AND I drafted a memo from our new landlord (a company that employs engineers) to my fellow employees. 90% figured out that it was a joke, but thought that it came from the landlord (they were so amazed at the great sense of humor displayed by a bunch of engineers) - the other 10% thought that it was real and actually made plans to purchase 40 watt light bulbs. I finally admitted to being the author of the document (just before my executive director was about to write an email joking about not paying the rent today - haha).

I include the bulk of the memo here (minus company names) for your amusement. I have to mention that this was done on the landlord's letterhead and a copy was placed in everyone's mailbox (I really outdid myself, hehe)

"Due to the increasing costs of utilities, we are implementing some new policies at X. All of the following policies will take effect on Monday, April 4, 2005:

* No overhead lighting should be used during daylight hours. Daylight hours have been defined as the time between 7:20 AM and 6:30 PM. If additional lighting is required during these hours, 40 watt light bulbs may be used. Please contact Rick C. if you need bulbs; he can be reached at 617-555-9277.

* Thermostats are on an automatic system. The temperature will not be set over 68 degrees. You will not be able to override the system. We realize that there may be a few more cold days, so please do your best to dress accordingly. Or you can huddle together; body heat is pretty effective.

* To conserve as much water as possible, water will only be turned on during operating hours. These have been defined as Monday through Friday, from 7:00 AM until 7:00 PM, and Saturday from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. Please run the water in the kitchens and bathrooms as sparingly as possible. If you need to use water outside of these hours, don’t.

* And finally, to minimize on the wear and tear of the building, please walk as softly as possible. Heavy tread can cause the building to settle 1/16th of an inch every three months – this can lead to thinner floors, which in turn could lead to the total collapse of the building.

We realize that some of these policies will take some getting used to, but we trust the dedication and team spirit of our employees will see us through these dark times.

If you have any concerns about the changes, keep them to yourself. No one likes a whiner.

Thank you."