The Christmas Weekend

We had such a lovely and pleasant Christmas weekend.

The SB had her birthday party on Friday, Saturday we had that wonderful brunch with Marsha and Elaine, grocery shopped, made yummy soup, Sunday we did church and went to Drippin' for a dedication of a bench in my late nephew's honor at the Episcopal church. THAT was sweet. I got a few shots of the bench, and a sweet photo of my brother and me.

(You like the tree growing out of my head? Those are my reindeer antlers. For the winter solstice I change genders and morph into Cernunnos the Celtic Stag God. )
But I digress...

Here's an inscription on the bench, which is perfect for my nephew, who was a diver.

On Monday, which was SB's birthday proper, we went to church, and dinner, and on Monday got up for a leisurely Christmas day... The Sexy Beast got a wonderful shot of Zeta with that ridiculous jester collar!!!

and I got a wonderful shot of Zeta and the SB

The boys are just plain grown up big now, here with the SB ...

It was all very nice.

Sexy Beast's Birthday Party

We had a GREAT time last night at The Armadillo Christmas Bazaar celebrating SB's birthday and listening to the phenomenal Ruthie Foster.

Thanks to all who joined us, and those that we ran into who we knew. The world seemed really small last night.

Note the Beer Princess t-shirt.


Here she is, sporting a fantastic smile, new braces shining.


Today we slept in, had breakfast at Cafe Java, and had a chance to hang out with Elaine and Marsha, who looks great no matter what her mood or physical condition. This makes her a diva in our book. It was SOOOOoooOOOO good to see her!

Then off we went to "Thuh" new "ACH-e-b" -- see previous post about pronunciation of "The HEB"... and shopped in relative peace. This, thanks to a new HEB between the other two we usually frequent. They're everywhere, those HEB's.

...and so, apparently, are we.

Random Photos...

Recently found these.

This is from Arcadia, the last role I played, which, gulp, was five years ago. I've been busy directing. I'll have to act again soon. I played Lady Croom (note the big ass bun on my li'l blonde head) Funny, the Beast Boy Two played Gus in a production of this last year. Gus is Lady Croom's son. Go figure.

Here's me, playing Lorraine Sheldon in The Man Who Came To Dinner in 2001. It's an odd role to be a favorite, having played Kate in Taming Of The Shrew and Titania in Midsummer, and a couple of other leads that should top the list. No. Scenery chewing, washed up ingenue Lorraine is still my favorite.

Photo Time

Yeah, I promised some photos from the Cruise a long time ago.

Ok, here are some more.

Here's the Sexy Beast preparing for a safety drill. Wow. I LOVE this woman.
She is getting braces tomorrow. Not that she needs them.
Below that, she is enjoying a cigar in the no smoking section.

Here we are with our shipboard waiter Cirilo, and below, some guy working in a great little restaurant in Cozumel who gave the Sexy Beast a massage for a few bucks. Me, I just tried to balance on those saddles they called barstools. By the way, that smile I'm smiling in the photo with Cirilo? It's the same smile in the photo I have of myself at six months old.

Shipping Panic

Yikes.

Ya know, I'm having a panic like moment. I can't do a thing about it, it's beyond my control (sorta) and I am gonna probably just have to sit and wait. At least two of the several Christmas gifts I intend to give are in UPS transit, right now, and should have, by my accounts, shipped WAY sooner than they have. So I'm not really surprised, but I am sorta wondering, what all those extra holiday workers are doing? They musta not been packing my shipments??? Those extra elves musta not been making my toys???

If I don't get what I need by Friday, I'll be sitting on the warehouse stoop at my office on Monday, forlornly waiting for the UPS truck that won't come, because they've been notified that we're closed.

And there's one I paid for on two day that I haven't gotten shipment notification on yet either.

ACK! Just the thought of tomorrow actually being the 20th sets my heart aflutter -- and not in so gooda way.

This is really a performance issue. I gotta perform at least a little in the gift giving department right? I so don't want to disappoint anyone! I will be wrapping pictures of the freekin' presents I bought.

And... we'll see if the Sexy Beast reads my blog. Let's see if she mentions this.

SHEESH. If my own Sexy Beast doesn't read my blog AND my packages don't arrive on time, I might wonder if I should have some self-esteem issues.

Nah... I don't really have self-esteem issues. Not high ones anyway. LOL.

OMG. Those packages HAVE to get here. God loves me. So, er... they will. Now, whether I will be in the right place at the right time, is another story.

Ok, ok... so I'll tell the family it's Channukah and this year we're celebrating the rededication of the altar for eight days. Yeah. That.

Boy am I glad there's not one of those current mood icons on Blogger.

Current mood: Panicked. (Or, maybe it's just all the holiday sugar)

You know that scene in The Big Chill where Glenn Close's character has done a little cocaine and she can't sleep and she's goin' on and on and on...

Yeah... that.

Aghhhhhkkkgrrrr.....

Five Women Wearing The Same Dress

NxNW's next show is Five Women Wearing The Same Dress.

We still need a space to perform. And soon!

I did some publicity photos last week.

I'm excited about this show!

Does this post read like a Dick and Jane book?

Holiday Treats

I started this blog specifically because I had just about had it with Christmas yard art.

AND! For about as long as I've lived where I live, my neighbors put out the classic plastic Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And every other time I pass it, one of them has "fallen and can't get up."

I finally got a photo of it, if a crappy one. I'll snap a better photo later.

Use the comment section for your caption.

Mine reads, "Please God, get my husband up off his drunk ass to help me raise the Son of Man. There's no way I can do this alone."

What's yours?

Love...

Marsha called me a lazy blogger again.

Yeah, well...

Mostly, I've been busy. Also, for several months there's been lots of change happening, not just for me, but for so many of my friends. Sometimes change makes me quiet and consumes me.

I was reminded yesterday of an Emmett Fox quote on love, which I had transferred from planner to planner since I was 21 years old up until the time I went from planner to PDA. And no Renee, that's not a public display of affection. I realized yesterday that I had taken this quote on almost like a mantra for my own life. And I really have. I strive to reach toward a sufficient realization of love, and it's never failed to heal every single situation that I've held up to it's light. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been codependent about it. Also, I realize I haven't (yet) held every single troubling situation in my life up to the standards of the quote, but for every one I that I have, it never fails to heal.

Anyway, the quote from Fox:

Love Will Conquer

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer;
no disease that enough love will not heal;
no door that enough love will not open;
no gulf that enough love will not bridge;
no wall that enough love will not throw down;
no sin that enough love will not redeem . . .

It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble;
how hopeless the outlook;
how muddled the tangle;
how great the mistake.
A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.
If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world.

There's something I don't do anymore, jot down quotes to view every day, in a planner. I am relatively new where I work, so I haven't "moved in" and revealed too much of my personality by covering my cubicle in quotes and photos and postcards in the same fashion as my refrigerator. In my world, the refrigerator and cubicle are the adult equivalent of the teenager's bedroom wall.

And this quote also reminds me of Marsha, who posted yesterday about being angry about her lymphoma. Marsha has a healthy respect and love for herself, so where was the room in the process of recovery for anything but healing and love until now -- when anger has time to visit?

I may resolve next year to bring back the quotes. And devise a way to remember everyone's birthday, and to prioritize my time so that I spend more time being with people than doing things.

That would include more photography I think. It's a beautiful way to be with people, to hang around, talk, create a comfortable space for someone, and illuminate them. I like it. Recently, I did these people:









Ok... I am going to bed. G'night.