Nesting

We're at T-minus two months to my elopement, five months until the family party, and hopefully one year from the beach party I want to throw in Florida for our friends. If this were like the last few years, I'd be getting ready to move yet again since I've lived in the same place for 9 whole months, but luckily, I'm staying put for now.

Whenever I get settled somewhere, I have to do a creative project. This year, I've learned more about fiction writing and written "the first good draft" of a book. This has taken countless hours and involved wrestling with the MS Office Suite (and of course I still have a huge grudge against their system and the work it failed to save- aarrrgh!). In all, it's been wonderful and tough, all at the same time.

Today, I'm contemplating going to the fabric store and making another one of those fuzzy quilts. I stumbled across the most adorable fabric that featured foxes, bluebirds and squirrels (my fave!) and I know I'll regret it if I don't at least stock up on it.

I'm starting a new job on Monday, so that means I'll have down-time again. Down-time is hard to quantify when you spend your time looking for a job and/or freelancing, because you never know when an opportunity will surface. But now, I'm looking forward to a few things seeming to be more organized.

See ya later, squirrels!
-G

Crossing the Great River- to the Newest State of Residence

There come times in life when important events change the course you're on and also where you're headed. Fate threw me a curveball last year when I got engaged to a wonderful person. Also, the place where I worked was bought out and our department is in the process of closing via a series of layoffs. So, it made sense that I'd move to where Future Husband had just secured a better-paying job and where I could not only start over but reconnect with family members who've lived far away... until now.

So I packed up the car and I moved to Beverly... Hills, that is. Well, slightly north and east, to be exact. Near Pasadena, which is convenient because my cautious driving habits can be likened to the Little Old Lady from Pasadena, whom the Beach Boys sang about. People say you only need deodorant here, not antiperspirant, since it isn't humid like it was in Florida, but after attempting to drive around town, guess what? I need antiperspirant! And I hope to God I find work close to my new home! Commuting is rough no matter where you live, but especially in places like Southern California.

Here is the view up my street from the entrance of my apartment complex. I had to take pictures to send back to Florida to show family and friends. Regrettably, my camera battery died yesterday when we were on the water in Long Beach. Ah, well. I'll be better prepared next time.
So here I am! I'm sending out my resume and looking for work and hoping that I find a great fit on the next occupational go-around. Best wishes to you for a great 2014!
-Gabi

It's done! Now, to mail it to the expectant mommy...

Here it is, with the smooth and fuzzy sides showing as well as the wee little pillow case. Binding has been sewn on, edges have been frayed, it's been washed (and the lint catcher in the dryer cleaned out several times). If you make one of these, please don't cause a fire hazard! Clean out the lint catcher often.

Now it's time to wrap it up and send it off. The expectant mother is due in late November, so it should arrive several weeks sooner that the baby girl.

That's one good home economics project done. I'm glad that project has been wrapped up, because I have a feeling that things are going to get very exciting around here very soon :)

-G

Home Economics: Sewing Project, continued

Eventually, all the blocks were sewn into rows, and each row was sewn together to make a quilt that is 6 blocks across and 8 blocks long. My mother, the magician, somehow quickly made a lot of 2 1/2 inch strips of the yellow material using some curious folding technique that I don't have any pictures of to share...
These two pictures show that the strips were first sewn together to make a continuous edging, which was then ironed down the middle to make two evenly-sized halves.
The next step is to make the fringe, which is done by cutting into the fabric "seams" that are sticking out on one side of the quilt. This takes a long time and tires out your arm and hand, so it should be undertaken occasionally, with good breaks in between. Once all the fringe is cut, and it is sent through the washer and dryer (clean out the lint trap in the dryer OFTEN when this is done!), it will look fuzzy like the picture below. This is a wee pillowcase made out of 10 remaining squares that I couldn't use for the quilt: Once this project is done, I will post a picture of it before sending it up to Gainesville for M's baby shower! -G

Home Economics: Sewing Project

I don't make baby quilts very often. I've made the following:

-Sometime in the 90s- a primary color quilt with animals, given to my sister T when she had her daughter.

-Sometime in the 00s- A couple of box-quilts made from funky fabrics. 2 themes: yellow (for my friend AEM) and blue and green plus frogs (for my friend ABS). Both had boys. I told them that one quilt was a lifetime supply. AEM is pregnant now with her second, a girl. (I sent her a squirrel book for the kids this time.)

-Sometime in the 00s- I got inspired to make a butterfly quilt, then gave it to my friend C who was expecting a girl.

In the last few years, I've made another from grey, black, white, and orange t-shirts. It is really cozy. I've waited to give to someone who is an alumni of my old high school (which had the colors orange and black for its teams) but no opportunity has presented. So, it is in the closet.

Recently, my mom made a flannel quilt for my cousin's new baby boy, which was blue with cowboys on it. I thought it was really cool. So when I found out my friend M was expecting, I wanted to make the same kind of quilt.

I chose monkeys and bananas as a theme because M likes bananas, and because I wanted something that wouldn't look either girlish or boyish. Besides, who doesn't love monkeys?

It's a cool concept in that the quilt has a smooth side and a fuzzy side. This will be explained better as we go along.

The project requires:

-3/4 yard of 4 different fabrics (flannel) (Or, 3 yards of flannels in whatever quantities you prefer)

-1/2 yard of same or coordinating fabric (flannel)

-patience

-time

-a sewing machine

-definitely some scissors or one of those pizza-slicer-style fabric cutters

Step 1: Cut all of the fabric (except for the 1/2 yard) into 6-inch squares.

Step 2: Sew the squares together so that the outside of the fabric faces both ways. In other words, take 2 6-inch pieces with the pretty sides out and sew them together in an X formation. See the picture for additional information.

Step 3: Put all the squares together into different patterns so you can choose how you want your blanket to look. Keep in mind that you can buy different quantities of different fabrics to come up with a certain look.

For this project, I decided that if we did rows like stair-steps, it would look nice.

This is what my layout looked like when the individual rows were sewn together but the entire interior of the quilt was not.

Step 4: Sew the squares together so that all of the seams are on one side. In other words, you have one side of a strip of flannel that is smooth, and the other side has the jagged edges of flannel. Use at least a 3/4 inch seam for these rows. You can see some examples of the jagged sides of the flannel on the second picture here.

This is where we end the home economics class for today. When we go to my mom's house, we will learn how to make the binding and sew it on to the outside of the blanket. I've chosen a lovely bright yellow for the binding.

-GALA

OK, So Here's What Happened Part II

My sister's marriage didn't go as planned. It's not really right to rehash the details but let's just use the phrase "irreconcilable differences" and leave it at that. I live in the house still, with just my sister, as she is the sole owner of it. We're working together to get the garbage cans in and out on the appropriate days and keep the place clean. We've coordinated our grocery shopping and cooking to share what we can, when we can. She handles the heavier yard tasks while I try to keep the weeds at bay (and put down that funky fabric to keep them from coming back). It's a process, and with the weather as hot as it's been, I haven't ventured outside to do yard work this weekend. I mean, why stress myself? So now, it's the Sister's House, and we enjoy ridiculous movies and TV shows when we are together. Today, we're taking turns vacuuming. I'm doing laundry and cooking, and she can help herself to whatever I've made. That's the agreement. Work is nutty. We're having layoffs about every 6 weeks now. I anticipate more in about 2 weeks. I am not sure who there has what plans for me/my position but it's hard to plan that far ahead. I keep myself occupied with meeting up with my writing group and seeing my friends. Being in Tampa is great because I've had friends here for years: from college, from doing theatre, from former jobs. Just about every weekend, there's a food date and accompanying extracurricular activity. Yesterday, I went to Ybor City with Justine and had lunch. We ran around and laughed about all the adventures we've had in all the different places there.

The weekend prior, Mindy came up and we had breakfast and then birthday massages. Then, we went to our respective homes and napped. We can agree that it was top drawer. My friend Cherie recently took me out to dinner for my birthday. Again, the conversation was top-notch and the gluten free hamburger was great too. My b.f. Claudia visited a few weeks ago and we were off to St. Pete to see our friend Lisa, whom we met on our trip to Ireland in 1995! I am very thankful for all of these friends- and the others here too. Plus, both of my sisters are here, one brother-in-law, two grandparents, a niece and a nephew. My parents live about 70 miles inland, too. I find it wise to simply enjoy my time here and enjoy having a steady paycheck while it lasts. After all, I have so much to be grateful for, so why grumble about it? Usually when I lose something I end up with something better. I just have to keep that in mind. -GALA

OK, So Here's What Happened....

"OK, so here's what happened" was the working title of the BOOK I wanted to write about my time in Ocala. Yes, scary and backward Ocala. Family-friendly/ single-hostile Ocala. Wow. (That book now has a different title and is in the works under a nom de plume! ;) A lot happened when I owned the townhouse. A global financial meltdown. A severe loss of property value. Several sinkholes, some of which made the Orlando news! Yes, you could see my back porch on the Orlando news, thank you very much. A lot of really awkward social encounters with locals in the Gainesville/Ocala area. A lot of alone time. An operation, and complications from it that lasted for.... a year so far. And, that's all she wrote. I am making a new start now, but before I did that, I went through several transitions. 1) An aborted attempt at a garage apartment south of Gainesville ended in angst when the owner bug-bombed it and left it sitting unattended for about 3 weeks. I opened the door to dead animals everywhere (luckily, small ones). I gave the key back and got a refund. Later, they discovered mold on the bed used to furnish the place, so I'm glad I didn't stay there. I would have blown up in hives in no time. (I only blew up in hives in North Central Florida; it's a moldy place.) 2) A housesitting gig at my friend B's apartment over Christmas. I wish I had pictures. It was exactly what I wanted after time in a cold, half-empty townhouse: a warm yellow room with a big closet and a storage unit across town. Whew. I had gotten out from under the dark cloud of too-big bills and a townhouse in a town where I didn't care to stay and couldn't work either. Lots of Netflix Christmas movies kept me company on the days when I was there alone (which was most of them) and it was relaxing. Just what I needed in the midst of the holiday hubbub. 3) Next, I stayed with a woman I met on craigslist.org. She had a 4-bedroom house in Gainesville and an empty nest. I was in the middle of interviewing for a job in Tampa (yes, 150 miles south of Gainesville) and needed another temporary place. We agreed that I would pay for 2 months even if I didn't stay that long, although I ended up staying almost exactly that long. When I contacted her by phone, she sounded harassed. I didn't know how to handle this, so I started slowly with my credentials (I have a job in Gainesville, sold my house sooner than I expected, ended up staying with friends, and need a room to rent soon. I can provide references if you need them. I promise I'm a nice person.) and eventually she confided to me, "I put that ad on craig's list today, and you would not believe who's been calling me. Creepy men, mostly." "Oh, I bet they have!" I said and explained my similar predicament when I tried to rent a room in my townhouse. For a while, I ended up with a female roommate who had interesting ideas about what a clean bathroom entailed. A picture is included for your reference. Warning: the following picture made at least one of my sisters gag: In any case, we met and agreed that I would rent a room. In many ways, we exceeded each other's expectations, too. We had several good conversations over dinner or at other times while I rented the room. My friend B was looking to unload a TV and I found a new home for it in my rented room. I hooked it up to the cable and we were good to go; I could watch TV in bed like some sort of rock star :) I paid the amount we agreed upon on time for each of the two months. I even went to Lowe's and got a bejeweled Diva-style house key for me to use, which I gave to her when I left (and which she loved). The rented room was painted dark blue with white trim and a white door. I bought large curtains to put on the curtain rod above the closet; the closet doors were long gone. She offered me a heating unit for the room, which became my best friend on those cold Gainesville nights. I left a few of my prototype door snakes there. Two stayed in the rental room window to keep things extra cozy. She needed them for different drafty doors in her place, and I was moving from room to room so I didn't need them anymore. (I sewed a whole basket of them to give away as Christmas presents in 2011.) But perhaps the most notable move happened next. I moved into my newly-married sister's house to start a new job with a big new raise. She and I figured a while back that we'd live together when I "graduated" from Gainesville, but since she and her man had moved up the wedding date, well, we all live in the same place now. I suppose that in the interim, we could call this blog Gabi's Sister's House, but this is temporary of course. I pitch in with taking care of the dog, remember to set out the trash more often than not, and try to keep everything clean. This was the place where my furniture and other stuff have been stored since the move out of the townhouse. At first, the guest room was mayhem, but I am slowly whittling it down. There are a few more things I need to unload and then we'll be in the clear. So yeah, things were awkward in Gainesville. People wondered why I didn't just get an apartment, and I couldn't very well tell them I was interviewing for work elsewhere. But that secret's been out for a while now; I started the current job in March. I also fell in love with someone far away, which makes me want to remain as mobile as possible. I told him I'd need a serious commitment (read: engagement) to consider moving and so far he hasn't run away, run away quickly. So, you never know. Gabi's house is on the move once more....

Hooray, a writing blog!

At the artists' meeting last week, they pointed out to me that I needed to put my writing clips online so that people could read them.

Therefore, wah-lah! Last night and today I went through my clips and blog articles and so on to find my writing samples from newsletters, newspapers and magazines. These articles, along with my writing CV, which took me a long time to compile, can be viewed at http://gabiswork.blogspot.com. There is a link to this site on the upper right hand side of this page.

At first, I thought pdf's would look better on the blog, but then I checked a journalist friend's blog and hers were all added as entries... Given that she's a career journalist, I figured I should take her lead on this.

It's nice to have this organized, and hopefully it will benefit me in the future when I apply to work as a freelancer somewhere.

Yours,

Gabi

It's curtains for me now... and more.

Hi readers,

Welcome to my boodwah. You know, that word that's spelled boudoir. Excuse me if I can never get the French spelling for anything right without a dictionary- so today I decided to just sound the word out. Here it is.

I've made some improvements to my boodwah. Above, you can see the curtain rod and curtains. This only took a year to put together. At first I wanted palm tree print curtains but didn't find any I liked. Then I thought some beige canvas ones would be cool and "match anything," but when you're too lazy to paint, beige curtains really aren't an option unless you want to be bored out of your mind with your curtain choice. So, I decided on sage green. The ones on the outside are thermal and don't let in light. They also insulate the windows and keep the room cooler in summer, warmer in winter- and this will come in VERY handy. I'll just slide the thermals over and scrunch the pretty ones up in the middle and wah-lah! The room will stay toasty this winter.

Yes, wah-lah. I mean, the word that's spelled like viola (but not referring to the musical instrument).

I also bought new drawer pulls for my beurow. You know, that thing you put clothes in. It's really spelled bureau but wouldn't you know it, these French words have me reeling again. You can also see the fan above. Notice I have no trouble spelling "fan." Isn't it pretty? It reminds me a little bit of Key West- but thank goodness this isn't Key West. Key West never gets cold, and how I love to wear clothes with sleeves and pantlegs. Thank goodness I'm far north enough to do that for part of the year!


Finally, we have an overall view of the room, with jammies stashed out of sight and everything matching. It's an event when it all looks like this, so I had to take a picture.


I hope you've all enjoyed my pictures. Enjoy your day, and remember:

When you're too lazy to paint, beige curtains are a "no" unless you're going to tie-dye them. That would be cool.

Love,

Gabi

Photographic Melee

"When I look back on my ordinary, ordinary life,
I see so much magic though I missed it at the time."

- Jamie Cullum, "Photograph"

I decided to update my framed photographs to stuff that's more casual, less stuffy than posed photos. This was inspired by a few things: realizing that I didn't have a picture of two of my best friends up because we never "pose" for pictures together (unless the poses are completely ridiculous and may include a feather boa); a desire to surround myself with something new and positive; and a move away from the ordinary. Please, I'm known as someone who's creative, so why these stuffy posed pictures in my house? I had to make a change.

Now the photographic menagerie includes the following:

- My younger sister and I under the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign
- Cherie, Justyn and I at Cherie's wedding, posing like showgirls on the beach
- All the ladies from our trip to England, with that post-Ewanspotting glow from our trip to the Piccadilly Theatre, where he performed
- Claudia and I at Justine's Halloween party years ago- she is a gypsy and I am cartoon character Daria
- A 5 x 7 of my old dog Buddy, taken with my Minolta
- Fun pictures from a trip to Miami with several great friends
- Mindy, Jen, Kris and I another Halloween when we dressed as slutty fans from various musical genres: Jen took country, Kris took heavy metal, I took punk rock (what else?) and Mindy was the Purveyor of Sin, with a tool belt full of the tools you need to sin: condoms, shot glasses, alcohol of some sort, and I forget what else...
- Niece and Nephew in New York, building a snowman
- A "real" portrait of me and my sisters (a classic, so it can stay). (It gets extra points for being in black and white).

Elsewhere in my house is a picture of my "best friend" from my youngest years: my dog Lance. He had been outsmarted by a ball of yarn and it was wrapped all around his middle when the picture was snapped. Either my mom or dad took the picture because he and I were born the same year and he looks like he still might be a puppy in this picture. Then again, my older sister may have taken it. It's unclear. It's just cool that I get to see him every day, because he died in 1984 and I still remember what the fur on top of his head felt like.

And then there's the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. I won a contest with a picture I took of them. Although they are so awesome, it's kind of hard to screw up a photo of them. Kind of like Venice, Italy. Is it possible to take a picture there that doesn't look cool, just because it's an awesome place?

Finally, I'm starting my collection of Italian wedding photos- a move inspired by several Italian restaurants. Naturally, these pictures are in my dining area. One was snapped of my grandparents just outside the church where they were married, and you can see their cousins in the background. It's funny how we know exactly who these people are even though they've been together over 60 years. The second one is of my parents, walking down the aisle in 1967. You can see how everyone in the church has their head covered- an old school Catholic thing- and it helps you see how the moment is frozen in time. My mom was a bottle redhead and says that they both had movie-star good looks back then. My dad is about as big around as a paper clip and has his Navy haircut. It's pretty cool.

I have to go get clothes out of the dryer and go interview for a job (!) so I'm going to stop rambling. Hope you are all doing well.

Gabi

Plant a tree already!

Hi everyone. It's your Earth Day reminder from me that you can join the Arbor Day Foundation at www.arborday.org and get 10 free trees for joining! I just re-joined and got my baby trees planted last week. I can't wait until they have teeny green leaves, but for now they are just sticks in dirt that I water.

I applied for a writing/research job at a natural gas company today. Keep your fingers and toes crossed that I'll get a call from them soon! It is hard to hold out for an environmental job but I think it will be most satisfying once I'm working again.

Stay green,

GALA

Gabi's House- Ocala Townhouse

Ironically, I posted a bunch of pictures of my former townhouse for this post, and they've all been replaced by squares with question marks inside. The old pictures are lost.
Much like my memory of the place!

Gabi’s House Ocala- the Move Back to the Swamp

I met a guy one night after my friend Tim’s performance in a show at the Orlando (Christmas 2005) whose dad worked at an environmental firm. I e-mailed his dad and eventually met him, got some advice, and told him I’d be in touch after I finished my economics degree since I was planning to work in the environmental economics field. A year and a half later, I got in touch, pasted my resume onto the bottom of the message, and didn’t think too much of it. I asked him if he knew of any jobs or had any job search advice for me. I was willing to go somewhere in the Southeast (as far southwest as Austin, TX, which I hear is a really cool place) or the Pacific NW but didn’t want to stay in Baltimore/DC. My allergies were out of control, requiring serious meds, and I figured I needed a change now that my relationship was over, so it was a good time to go.

My contact replied to say that his firm happened to be hiring, and he’d already forwarded my resume. Here were the people to call and their numbers. Call them soon. I thought, whoa! I got my first interview e-mailing someone in my jammies. I am off to an excellent start!

This was the day before Memorial Day weekend began. I spent Memorial Day weekend in Boston, called the office Tuesday morning, and by Wednesday had a job offer in an unlikely place- Ocala, FL. Ocala is more or less the same town I grew up in 25 years ago, it just happens to be 100 miles north of my official home town, Lakeland. I went to the prom here in 1991 (and I wish I was still friends with that guy, because it is hard to meet people within 10 years of my age in Ocala). So, I went onto http://www.craigslist.org/ and found a place to stay in Ocala- 8 miles west of I-75, 10 miles away from my job. My roommate, who worked in both Ocala and Orlando, happened to be a realtor- and when I found out that I could actually afford a townhouse here in Ocala, that led to a major purchase of Ocala TownHouse, or OTH for short.

But back to the “country house.” Meg, the roommate, had it all furnished well, with satellite TV and everything- a nice situation to move into when you’re coming into a new town. She also had a record player with all of her records from the ‘70s and ‘80s, and I would play them often- mostly Beatles, Elton John and even ELO. Although the house was spacious and cool, and the woods nearby lovely, I did get lonely… But being *only* 100 miles or so from Tampa, I did get to reconnect with some friends, which has been a real sanity-saver.

Meg's dog is so cute. She looks like my old dog, Buddy, except she's smaller and has slightly different coloring. Still, it was like seeing a familar face when I met her.

I became emboldened by the local real estate (watch out for falling prices!) and went a-shopping with Meg. We found a place that was out of my price range, but we couldn't leave the office because they assigned this cute guy to show us around and, well, we are only human. Long story short... the price fell drastically, we made a deal, and then it was time to move again! First January, then June, then September was when the moving dates took place. Needless to say, I do not plan to move again for a while- AT LEAST 2 years.

Oh, and did I mention that the second I got back into Florida, the ex called me and was upset, asking me if this meant our relationship was *really* over. I replied, and I quote, "Whaaaat?" Then, being so darn amusing, I added that if he happened to realize that if his glamorous stint as a special agent police officer in DC doesn't work out, he can always move to Ocala and be a sheriff. And then I laughed. Here I was thinking that I had made some logical decision based on his behavior- you know, when you break up with someone and don't call them for 4 months, they ARE allowed to make independent decisions and move away from you- but apparently he was waiting in the wings all the time. Ay, carumba.

Gabi's House North

The story of 2007 begins with a move up north. It was an awkward time, as so many of my times have been in the past 34 years, but a growing and learning experience nevertheless. My scheme to move to Baltimore began innocently enough. I had planned to go work in the DC area as an environmental economist, or something similar, or whatever my strengths in the workplace would get me as far as a job. It was on my list of places to check out and then I started dating someone who wound up working in DC, so I figured, OK, this is where the Fates are pointing me to go.

By last September, it was pretty clear that my relationship with said boyfriend was swirling around at about toilet level. To summarize, we had some serious communication issues. We hadn’t lived in the same state since Jan. 2006. I won’t go into details but it’s enough to say, I wanted to see if there was a chance that we could make it through a tough time and the only way I’d find out is by going up there.

Of course, I had “Friend Insurance.” Hello, I’ve been single most of my life. I wouldn’t dare let my friendships fall by the wayside or move to a place with no friends in the vicinity when I suspect my love relationship might crumble like a year-old moldy cookie. I moved to a place where there were friends from my old job- namely Liz, Tina, Cooper, Lenny, and then the ones I met once I got there: Jason & Allison, Mike, Scott, Craig, Wayne, and his brother Glen- the last 3 on that list ran the neighborhood liquor store, which was a fine place to visit and convenient as there was no need to name a designated driver since we’d walk home. Conveniently, Liz lived 5 miles from the school I’d be attending (I was completing a bachelor’s in economics with an emphasis on environmental science) and let me live with her.
Therefore, without further ado, allow me to introduce Gabi’s House Baltimore, which I only inhabited for 5 months, but still, if we’re going to document 2007 we have to cover 3 houses and this is the first. In June all the trees were covered with leaves, flowers growing everywhere, and a screen on the front door.

At Liz’s house we had Codie the cat. I had a few names for him- specifically, Codie the Cowboy (because he kind of ambled instead of walked) and Codie Bear (because he always wanted to snuggle). Codie was there for me when my ex was being difficult and when we broke up- about 3 weeks after I arrived, and just before Valentine’s Day (of course). When the weather was cold and I was sad, Codie would come sit with me and be adorable and comfort me. What a sweet cat. He also had a sister, Dorrie, who was not really into snuggling. Every day, Liz would pick her up and she would struggle to get away. Liz would tell her, “But Dorrie, you love being held!” but it never seemed to convince her.

I was so lucky to have Liz around with all the excitement of the breakup and moving to a new place. She’d draw maps for me to help me get around town and even fixed my computer a few times! Also, there was the emotional support. We both had the goal of eventually leaving the area- she because she had a chance to move to the mountains, and hello! Of course she wanted to do that, and me because what was I going to be hanging around for? I could get a job anywhere now that the Ex-B had exited the stage, and I wasn’t wild about snow- so it was time to think about going south for the summer, or to the Pacific Northwest, where I’d tolerate snow just to be there, depending on who hired me. So we were both coming up with a Baltimore Exit Strategy, and it was good to have each other to talk things over with. Mine took about a week, as you’ll learn in the next installment of Gabi’s House- the Move Back to the Swamp.

A Broad Abroad

I'd forgotten about this blog article I'd written. Here it is for your amusement:

A Broad Abroad: My Adventures as an American Woman in Search of Ewan McGregor in London

My friend Anthony, who hails from Liverpool, had this to say when I told him I was crossing the Atlantic to see Ewan McGregor onstage: “I’ll be reading the Yahoo news and there you’ll be in the headlines: Fanatical Tampa Lady Whisks Celebrity Away.”

It had all started with one innocent e-mail. My friend Mindy wrote me an e-mail at work to let me know that Ewan would be performing onstage in London. My response via e-mail was: “When are we going?”After making brief mention of this to several girlfriends, suddenly there were five of us planning a trip: three from Tampa, one from Boston, and one from Kenosha, Wisconsin. Then, a work colleague approached me with a lament that she simply hadn’t done enough traveling. I suggested that she join us, she cashed out her IRA, and then there were six!

When September 2005 rolled around, we were ready to go, with hotel, plane, and theatre reservations and the debt that goes along with that. There was excitement in the air, and the voyage to London was punctuated by fitful sleep, British movies, and snacks. Once the passports were stamped and we were on our way through the Underground to our hotel, fatigue set in for that day. But the next day, we were anxious with anticipation and visited the Piccadilly Theatre to pick up our tickets. Then, we returned to the hotel to primp and don our foxiest outfits of the week. (What if Ewan saw us from the stage? We had to look good!) Finally, we headed down to Piccadilly Circus for an evening of fun, frolic, and Ewan-spotting.

This circus doesn’t have lions and tigers, but it is a bustling place full of people and tacky souvenirs. Need a pashmina or British-flag underwear? You can buy it there. It reminds me a bit of Times Square in Manhattan. There are lights and people everywhere.

Piccadilly Theatre is a gorgeous old theatre in the Piccadilly area of London. The interior is rich and draped in red velvet. It draws crowds from all over the world, as we can claim, since we may have been the visitors from furthest away that night. Programs cost a few pounds, but what’s a few pounds when you’re already in the hole $3,000 getting to London? Most of us bought the programs and drooled extensively over Ewan in all his onstage glory.My friend Jackie and I would compare the time every few minutes. An hour to go, 30 minutes until curtain. The excitement continued to build, at least for us, while our traveling companion K.C. snored next to me, until the lights dimmed and the horns blasted out the first notes of the Guys and Dolls score. K.C. woke up with a start once that happened.

We were seated in the second row, dead center, so aside from a few stray hairs on the heads of the people in front of us, it was a clear shot to the stage. We joked that I could probably make it onstage with one well-executed handspring. Five rows back, also in the dead center of the audience, sat Ian McKellan, in town to film The DaVinci Code. For once in my life, I had bested a major actor! That’s right, Sir Ian McKellan, I had better theatre seats than you!

The show began. Minutes went by and where was he? He was a headliner, his name and picture were bigger than life on the outside of the theatre…he’d be along any time now.

Then came that unmistakable voice, although disguised in the New York accent for the show. There he was, talking about getting a craps game running while keeping the police unaware. After the initial excitement of seeing him, we had to settle in and enjoy the show.

Ewan sang several songs and danced in several numbers throughout the show. As an actor with far more film experience than onstage experience, he hasn’t had as much theatre experience as most actors who make it to the London stage. As a crazed fan, I thought he was absolutely perfect in every way. But as a theatre afficionado, I’d say he wasn’t quite Tommy Tune with the singing and the dancing. I’d give him a 7.5 out of 10 overall.

Emoting is no problem for our boy Ewan. His stage presence and sincerity went unquestioned in his role as Sky Masterson. The part of my brain that had settled in to soak up the show believed that he was some crazy gambler from New York City back in the 1950’s. The accent never slipped into his real Scottish tone, to his credit, and his dancing, from the second row, looked pretty good to me. (Some of the gals in the balcony seats did report that he seemed stiff in his dancing, but as I said, he’s mostly a film actor with limited dance experience). Getting straight men to dance well has been an issue for choreographers since Broadway and the West End of London began.

The singing? Ah, excuse me as I swoon. Let’s say that the singing was what you would expect after seeing him in Moulin Rouge or perhaps the very end of Down With Love. I thought he sounded excellent in the songs that he sang alone or with his co-star, Jenna Russell. My Time of Day and I’ve Never Been in Love Before were absorbing and fun- although, to the ensemble’s credit, Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat stole the show!

Some highlights from that night were:

1)Bursting in to giggles with Jackie when the curtain went down for the first act and blurting out, “I’m SO glad my boyfriend isn’t here to see me like this!” The guy in front of us, Jesse, immediately laughed, and we befriended him for the rest of the night.

2)During the final sequence, Adelaide marries Nathan and the actress playing Adelaide, Jane Krakowski, tossed a bridal bouquet into the audience. Where did it land? K.C.’s head! We caught it and she handed me a stray flower that had fallen out. Of course, I pitched it back onstage and hit Ms. Krakowski in the foot. She and Ewan had a laugh about it.

3) Of course, we stalked the stage door afterward, but our beloved Ewan was nowhere to be found. The actors have stopped meeting with fans after the shows because of the recent terror attacks in London. If we’ve ever had more of a reason to hate terrorists, here it is.

In the grand scheme of things, this is the farthest I’ve ever traveled to be entertained. Tampa to London is pretty far! This production of Guys and Dolls definitely made the headlines of my life that week. London is a bustling city and my friends and I were caught up in it. We loved the performances that night. In truth, the entire ensemble cast was extremely talented, and there were a few notable characters (such as Norman Bowman’s Harry the Horse) who stole some scenes here and there. I also walked away from the experience very impressed with Jane Krakowski. She will conquer all film, stage, et cetera in her career, just like Ewan.

As a theatre afficionado, there is a certain thing that can happen with actors onstage- moments where you “catch them acting”- when it seems like they’re just putting on a show. That never happened with Guys and Dolls, and it says a lot for the cast that they managed to absorb this Ewan fan in their reality for a few hours.

First Day of School

Good morning, all. Let me tell you a story.

Last August, I walked through the USF Sundome parking lot with rivers of sweat dripping off me in 96-degree heat and declared that I would NEVER endure a first day of school like that again.

Well, I got my wish. Today it's 20 degrees.

My driving buddy/neighbor is this guy who I can sum up in 2 words: Erich Eichinger. (We carpooled today because I thought it might snow- plus parking the first week of school is usu. pretty bad). My driving buddy reminds me so much of Erich Eichinger, it's scary. The hair- remember when Erich was in the growing-out-the-hair phase? That's how driving buddy Jason has his. Plus the hippie music and fuel-efficient car. I know Jason is different from Erich but that's the best picture I can draw for you all via blog. I am not an expert on hippie music but it's whatever all the kids were listening to in Alaska back in the day. Phish and stuff like that.

The campus is beautiful and there can't be anywhere close to as many students as there were at USF here. It's not as crowded as USF anywhere around here. I dare say the traffic isn't as bad either, but then again I live only 5 miles away.

I haven't been to class yet. That will start in about 1/2 hour. The building that most of my classes are in is really neat. It has a clock tower and it's made of brick. Plus, the inside has carved wood and other cool things like that- that make it look like it was built back in the day. I am currently in the "business and economics students lounge" which is a tiny room with 3 computers. The computer lab in the Business building at USF must have had 60 computers at least. So it's a different world!

Hee hee hee

The roommate is out and I'm going slowly insane in my new place. In the past few days I've watched a lot of movies. Heath Ledger and Keanu Reeves are my celebrity boyfriends this week. They are both unreasonably attractive.

Her cats are pretty interesting. I will never own a cat and here's why: kitty litter issues. One of the cats (the boy, I think) has decided to pee all over the floor instead of in the cat box. Typical male indeed, he also craves attention and drools excessively. The other one, the female, has been pretty cool since she stopped stalking me. I haven't seen her paws waving under my door for days. We used to play "hanger" in which I would put a hanger on the floor and she would try to grab it with her paw through the door. Minutes of entertainment, I tell ya.

I went to school to check out campus today. It wasn't too bad of a drive. I am learning about the buses around here in case it snows and I don't want to navigate these hilly, curvy roads. Also I think I'll keep the number for the local taxis at the ready. Expensive, I know, but consider the alternative: a $500 deductible for my car insurance. Taxi rides are way more reasonable than that.

If I read my horoscope today, it would probably say something like, Don't turn on your computer. The reason? I just went back and forth moving this over to new Blogger finally, and before that attempted to buy a parking pass online, to no avail. I kept getting kicked out of this one system where I'd have to be to buy a pass, but every other system for Towson U recognizes my username and password. Go figure.

The next 2 Saturday nights are booked, but what to do in the meantime? I have inquired about going in to the NWF (National Wildlife Federation) main office in Virginia to meet the volunteer coordinators and talk jobs and such. Hopefully they'll let me drop in on them before school starts. I need contacts like mad. Come June it'll be time to stop sponging off myself and get back to work.

My mom has a new blog- I put up the link, so check it out. She is really excited about it so far. It's for her breast cancer survivors group.

Had a chat with old amiga Ana yesterday. She is in VA but says she and hubby just missed out on living in NC, which is way more affordable. I told her yeah, I can't afford where I am either. Settling here would be completely out of the question with the housing prices, but I can get in a few good years of work, make some contacts, and then choose a good place for me to live and move there. I doubt it would be anywhere that is further north than I am right now. I'm not freezing at the moment and it's a mild winter here, but I'm just saying. I have my limits! Plus, there's the Mason Dixon line issue. Should stay beneath that unless I am OK with living around a bunch of Yankees, right? I knew so many Yankee transplants down in FL that it might not be that different, however!

OK, it's time to get back on task. Have a top drawer MLK day!

Gabi's new house

Hello from the frozen north! Actually, because of global warming it's not as cold as it used to be up here in MD. I guess that's a fringe benefit for Floridians who leave the state for any amount of time. But- it is cold! I am required to wear a sweatshirt or coat on days like this. Then again, it's winter! I've never really known winter.

Among my first purchases were a street map, which will come in very handy I'm sure, and lots of groceries. Then I came back to Gabi's house north (we can just call it GHN, and TDT's house in Tampa can be GHS) to put everything away and get these millions of shirts and pants I own organized. It's not easy having a tiny closet! But I am doing the best I can. I'm sure Martha Stewart would be proud.

The trip up here, in my car, was excellent. Mom came with and helped drive, and even "burned rubber" in the car once. We were in southern GA, so she fit right in. Somehow she forgot she wasn't driving her V-8 Mustang! Zoom zoom indeed.

We found out soon enough that we seem to gravitate toward the same pajama styles. There I was, with my polka-dotted flannels in signature colors blue and lime green, and here she was in her pink and green stripes. Nut doesn't fall too far from the tree, as she says.

The first day was punctuated by a trip to Cousin Tony's House, which he and wife Barb have made into such a sight! It looks like the kind of place you see in magazines only! They have a view of the marsh and a boat marina, where they keep their boat. There is even an elevator in the house that goes onto the roof, where there is a sundeck! Next time I pass through I want to stay at the Georgia Manny for sure. With 5 bedrooms, 5 baths, and a home theatre, they have room for me and about 10 of my friends ;) Darn the schedule- although, we did stay for a 3 1/2 hour lunch and just drove later into the night because we didn't get tired until 9 or so.

The second day... well, let's just say we saw a lot of DC and Baltimore due to the roads being a little confusing! Now it's funny of course- it was funny at the time too. We finally arrived in the afternoon, and my roommate (oops, I forgot to call her and let her know when we'd be here!) met us at the door with a quizzical expression. Finally, the 3 of us unloaded the car and I gave mom a tour of the place. We went to dinner, took showers, and went to sleep.

Today we went to the airport to send Mama home and I'm not going to lie, there were tears. I am a Cancer after all and although FL has a crappy job market and way-too-hot weather, it is still home. Little sister Marie called to check in and I blubbered to her a little bit, but then I got motivated and went out to get some food and the map (see above).

Soon I will get to see Boyfriend, and that will be fun! He has the next two days off. Hopefully I can catch him in the future while he's still dressed in his police uniform. As some poster I just saw said, "I love a man in uniform. It means he has a job!"

Ha ha ha. Hope you are doing well. Have a great day. I am going to listen to James Blunt and hang up a bunch of shirts now.

The results are in...

Thank you, various ladies, for being my experimental units! Here are the results of my statistics project:

We are 95% confident that the true average number of relationships for a woman of age 30 who owns at least one cat falls between 0 and 8.

There is a positive linear relationship between the age of a woman and the number of relationships she has had.

Cat ownership does not influence this equation. Therefore, the number of relationships that a woman has is not determined by whether or not she owns a cat.

Keep in mind that these were relationships lasting more than 6 months. Thanks for participating!!!

Cars I have known and loved

For those of you who know me, I am the type who names my cars. So far the female cars have been Minnie and Daisy, and the first male car was Mick. He was a black 1984 Datsun 200SX 5-speed, 6-cylinder, and so much fun to drive. I loved that car!!! I drove Mick for 8 years. I am such a loyal driver when it comes to cars... well, manual transmission cars. I don't really enjoy driving automatics. That's why I drove Minnie (an old Datsun 210) and Miss Daisy (a 1996 Mazda 626) for 4 or 5 years only.
Then, I developed the worst car crush ever... on Micah, my new car. He had to be blue, he had to be a hatchback just like Mick, and he had to be a 5-speed. My dad wheeled and dealed a little for me and got the moonroof and 6-CD changer thrown in there too, and we were off! My Mazda3 5-door (in car terms nowadays, that means "hatchback") is the coolest car around. I see other Mazda3s in the parking lot here at school and always look in to check them out. I think if I won the lottery, which I didn't last night as I'd hoped, I'd buy a few more: black for my "undercover" car, and red for fun road trips. I realize that I can change the volume of the stereo from my steering wheel, and it has all these cool features, but do you know what really got me excited at the dealership? The rear windshield wiper. Unless you've driven a van or hatchback, you have no idea how handy those can be in the rain.