it's the little things...

No, I'm fine. Thanks for asking. While I am in LA today, my plane was still above the shaking ground . How freaky would it be to try to land a plane amidst an earthquake? Had I kept my original travel plans I would have been here. At the site. Freaking out. Working the rest of the day under the desk. No aftershocks that have been registered (by me anyway). Perhaps I wouldn't have even noticed... "Hmm, was that my stomach growling?" I must say, it would be an interesting thing to experience as long as you knew it wouldn't end poorly.

When I was in college, one of my friends and I were talking about what it was too hot to do. We came up with things like "it's too hot to be pregnant" or "it's too hot to fall down." When you live in Texas it is often too hot to do many things. Here's what you do instead. 10 things to do when it's too hot to go outside Play the Wii. I've gotten pretty good at Guitar Hero. Clean the house. Thrilling, I know. Work on house projects. Lately it's been painting the stairs. If I ever make the last few decisions and actually finish without killing myself, there will be pictures to come. Sit in front of the computer. Internet. E-mail. Photography. Wish my house were better insulated. Hand-in-hand with this is wonder how bad my electric bill is going to be. Drink more. Generally the non-alcoholic kind. Go shopping. This does, however, require a person to go from the house to the car. Outside. With no air conditioning. See a movie. You know, this doesn...

So there's this woman at my company who I'm sure is very nice. Awhile back she started sending us these quotes every Friday. You'd think I'd love her for that, right? I love quotes. But she sends them as a PowerPoint slide and my computer is so slow that sometimes I just delete without reading because, seriously, if I have to wait on one more thing--especially something that's not work-related--I'll go insane. And then there's the joy of getting my inbox down by one more message, to a so-close-to-being-almost-in-the-vicinity-of-manageable number of e-mails. Regardless, here's the quote for today that I opened as I pondered what I have to get done today and what I'll have to "come back into the office" to get done over the weekend. “Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.” –Lin Yutang Now if only I could get this Lin...

10 Least Favorite Celebrities Ugh. There are so many... I was just thinking over the weekend that there are very few "classic" Hollywood-types these days. Paris Hilton --Why won't she go away? And now there have been rumors of her reproducing. Just what we need. Keanu Reeves --I think he's a terrible actor. Terrible. Jessica Simpson --I don't care if she's ditsy and uneducated or just pretending to be--both are bad in my book. Lindsey Lohan --The newest possible lesbian turn she's taking seems like an improvement over the drugs/alcohol/drunk driving fun she's normally up to... Britney Spears --Not a fan but still am glad no one follows me around with cameras claiming I'm pregnant because I have a little belly bulge occasionally. Miley Cyrus --I know kids love her. I don't. The entire cast of High School Musical --See #6. Tom Cruise --I never would have thought the tide would turn on him--especially if you would have asked me right after Cockta...

On July 7th, we drove in to Pittsburgh to see the Astros play the Pirates. It was my first away game. Since I'd experienced the joy of Yankee and Red Sox fans on our home turf (Bubba, I can hear you saying that we don't have turf anymore; we have grass), I was determined to not be an obnoxious fan. And I wasn't. A good time was had by all...except maybe our boys. They lost. We got there early and stayed the entire game. Our seats were great--8 rows up along the 1st base line. The Pirates fans behind us were very nice. The folks to our left were actually Phillies fans. And the people in front of us were on a 5-stadium bus tour. Seemed fun. Granted, it was the Astros vs. the Bucs on a Monday night but attendance didn't even hit 14,000. The first half took forever; it seemed like the battle of the poor pitchers. But it also seemed like we had a shot. In the end, the second half went as quickly as any hopes we had of winning. It ended 7-10. Some interesting tidbits: The le...

I haven't done a 10 on Tuesday in quite awhile. Ok, since the end of April. Lately, some of the topics haven't really hit home with me and other times I've just looked up and it was already Wednesday. Oops. 10 Memorable Vacation Moments Seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time. Being only a few feet away from elk in the wild in rural Pennsylvania. Drinking wine on the porch with The Boyfriend (as described here ) in Brenham. Horseback riding in Mexico with my snarky, biting and sometimes galloping horse. Dancing till the early morning on our Mexican cruise . Seeing "O" (my first Cirque show) in Vegas with The Boyfriend. Whale watching for the first time off of Boston. Crossing the state line for the first time (to Louisiana) when I was 17. (I know. I was old. We were poor. And who needs to leave Texas?) The early morning Seattle markets. Minding our own business in the hotel pool when those Jamaicans started talking to us in Grand Cayman. Also, hanging with sti...

The clouds were amazing. I don't know what compelled me to look out the window. Maybe the lack of reading material. Maybe the chatty tween the row in front of me who kept me from napping. Maybe the warning that it was about to get bumpy. Whatever it was, I'm glad I did. Interspersed amongst the inviting fluffy white clouds that could have been taken right out of a 5-year-old's drawing were flat, wispy cirrus clouds. Their horizontal lines dissected the giant puffs in such a way that you could easily imagine them being the surface of a vast ocean where you could simultaneously see the tops and bottoms of icebergs. I didn't have my camera. ++++++++++ When the clouds thinned, the boy behind me asked his mother if that was the Mississippi. The river is always huge, impressive. Because of the relentless rain, it had jumped its banks. The land isn't heavily populated but there are a few homes that still have water knocking on their doors. Others are islands, driveways lea...

There was beauty in all the nature that surrounded us. Everywhere. Rural PA is really quite lovely. The Boyfriend and I got to spend some quality alone time at two homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright--Falling Water and Kentuck Knob. Both are amazing today and even more so when you remember how long ago they were conceived and constructed. And, yes, we got to tour their interiors as well. Even though the weather wasn't the picture of summer (i.e. warm and sunny) at all times, the rain and fog in the mountains took my breath away. Other than the GPS and very rare phone calls, we didn't use any technology during the trip. No voicemail or e-mail or internet or television. (We did use the stove and A/C and indoor plumbing, etc.) It was refreshing. I saw real life Amish. In the wild. We also saw real live elk. I never knew "elk" could be turned into a verb--as in "we went elking." This means driving around looking for them. They are relatively easy to...

I got back today and am so not in the mood to go back to work. Ugh. Pictures today, perhaps words tomorrow.

I know; I'm slightly early. See, I have a feeling that tomorrow I'll be running around like a chicken with its head cut off because Thursday morning I'll be leaving town on a little vacation. I'll be celebrating Independence Day here. Y'all have fun and be safe! See ya next week. ( And because I've been feeling a little lonely over here, I'm going to shamelessly beg for a comment from you lovely readers. Is anyone still out there? ) (Photo courtesy of City Data . Hopefully there will be more photos when I return.)