the thin line between optimism and delusion... » Augusta

Tea Olives and Tank Tops

charlsiekate — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:22:47 +0000

I awoke this morning to the semi darkness of the late sunrise of early autumn. Getting out of bed this time of year is exceedingly difficult, and as much as I hate the darkness when I get off work, I appreciate the sunlight in the morning. I intensely covet the ability to bounce of out bed at 6:30 am on a regular basis, and bright sunlight is the best way to get me out of bed. I need windows, large, east facing windows on the opposing wall from my bed. My bedroom has big windows, but none of them face east. The real trick is opening the blinds at night so they will be open to the sunlight in the morning. I might be a paranoid person, but I’m also slightly nosy, and if a light is on in a room in a house where the blinds are open at night, I am going to look. So if lights are on at night, blinds should be closed. Somehow turning all the lights out and then opening the blinds seems strange.

Oh, duh. What I need is a chamber maid, to come in the morning and open the blinds for me and leave me clean clothes and tea and toast with butter and marmalade and maybe a hardboiled egg. I guess if I had a chamber maid I could also have a house with east facing windows on the water or on a mountain somewhere that blinds were not necessary. Then I wouldn’t need my chambermaid, but breakfast would be pleasant. Then I might bounce out of bed at 6:30.

Alas, I was languishing in bed at 7:45 this morning, thinking about what I would wear today. And I checked the weather, 71 degrees, 84% humidity. This sounds like an improvement over 78 degrees with 97% humidity, but I wasn’t entirely convinced it was a significant improvement. The fact that it is September 30th means nothing as far as what kind of weather could be expected.

Have you ever wondered what the UPS guy does all day? Because when you want a package to arrive at your house by a certain time, and you track it, it seems like regardless of anything else, the UPS man never gets to your house til after 5 pm, regardless of where you live, even though the UPS.com tracker told you he left the warehouse at 8 am this morning. Well, apparently he is delivering packagings, because I got a delivery I’d been waiting on at 1:45 this afternoon! It is like the UPS man knew i needed the package before 5. Or else it’s friday and he just wanted to go ahead and get rid of all the boxes so he could go home.

Why do I need this package before 5 pm? Because I’m going to Augusta today for Britt’s 30th Birthday! HOORAY! Happy Birthday Britt! Yay 30!

I have to admit, my 30th year so far has been pretty spectacular, and I feel sure Britt’s 30th year will be equally amazing!

Happy Friday, take time this weekend and smell the tea olives, and when it gets cold tonight, or tomorrow night, and you shiver in your tank top, remember that is finally the best month of the year, OCTOBER! Just typing it makes me happy. I’m going to go dig up some fingerless gloves with skulls and crossbones on them.

Monday After Lament of the Maid of Honor

charlsiekate — Tue, 03 May 2011 02:37:59 +0000

I know I’ve talked about the Monday after Masters being miserable, but today was equally as depressing. Y’all, Libby’s wedding was last weekend, and I had so much fun, but now I’m depressed. I’m sure that part of it is that the wedding is something Libby and I have been discussing for, oh, the last fifteen to twenty years, and there is something deflating to have it actually be over, but even besides that, it was insanely fun. I like to believe that all my bridesmaid experience was utilized to the fullest extent, but regardless, I had the maximum amount of fun. I’m looking at photos of the weekend and wishing I could have been at three places at one time the entire weekend because there is video evidence that I missed almost as much fun as I experienced! Haha. I’m also sad because an impressive amount of my favorite people in the world were all in the same place and now I freshly miss them. Sigh. If only we could take all our favorite people and make them all live in the same place.

Then I wouldn’t have anyone to visit in Colorado or New York or a few other choice locales, but maybe we could all travel to those places together on a regular basis? This dream is becoming increasing unrealistic. Maybe I’ll just stick to praying for cheap airfare, connecting flights that don’t get cancelled in the black holes that are also known as the ATL and CLT, and for staying up until 5 am on a Saturday night to not ruin my entire week. A girl can dream, right?

On top of everything, my best friend will be virtually unreachable for the next two weeks. JUST when we had so much to talk about, she runs off to the other side of the world. Even Briscoe is exhausted. Yesterday, my parents house was littered with hungover people and animals. Bella got in the trash Saturday night after the festivities and let’s just say on Sunday, the term, “sick as a dog,” sprang to mind. But I’m pretty sure she would do it all over again.

I’d like to tell you more, but I’m so tired my hair hurts, and they say a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

It's a marvelous night for a moondance...

Mr. and Mrs. McAleer

El Camino

charlsiekate — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 15:26:33 +0000

My new favorite song is Amos Lee and Willie Nelson, with the above stated title. It is soothing, inspiring, and brings to mind desolate, dusty roads with the sun on your shoulders (we are in a convertible of course) and wind in your hair. I”m wearing faded jeans and a white tank top, no watch, flip flops and on my left wrist, an indian friendship bracelet like the ones we used to make at camp with smocking thread. I have aviators, a doctor pepper, and maybe a tootsie pop or some sugar babies I bought at the last gas station. There is a cooler in the back icing down cold beer and sandwiches for later. What are you wearing?

Summer has come to the low country, and the humidity is here to stay. As are the tourists. All winter, I would run through the main tourist district on week nights, mostly monday, tuesday and wendesday. There were always people around, it is better lit than other areas of town, and it allowed me to be on the streets a little later than I would venture alone in less populous areas. The time change and the lengthening days makes running through the tourist area less of a necessity, but last night I ran my regular route anyway. I was shocked by the enormous influx of people. Seriously, it is a different town. It is the town I would expect on a Saturday, but yesterday being Tuesday, I did not expect it.

The most amazing part of the late spring here is that the entire town smells like confederate jasmine. I LOVE the way confederate jasmine smells, and there is nothing more enjoyable than being assaulted with wonderful flower smells everywhere you go. Even Briscoe likes the way the flowers smell. Of course, she likes the way a lot of things smell I find questionable, so her opinion probably doesn’t really support my point. My point is that it is awesome.

Libby’s bachelorette party was last weekend, and maggie bought some FAGE yogurt that made it to my refrigerator on sunday afternoon. I’ve been eating a good bit of yogurt recently, trying to be healthy. I must have grape nuts or granola to make yogurt work for me, and I can’t eat plain yogurt without some kind of sweetness in it, but with a little strawberry and cereal, I find yogurt fantastic. On Monday, while stirring the strawberry jam portion into the plain yogurt portion of my FAGE container, I noticed writing on the container, in red lettering: “Suggestion – DO NOT STIR.” I paused my stirring. Wait. I need the strawberry taste in the yogurt, why can’t I stir? Did they have to be so bossy about it? Should I have known that stirring yogurt was bad? Have I been eating yogurt incorrectly for years? Am I killing the live cultures? All those fruit at the bottom yogurt cultures murdered by me, the stirrer? Who knew you weren’t suppose to stir yogurt? Apparently, other people who are not me. From what I can discern from the internet, apparently the yogurt tastes better and is lighter and fluffier if you don’t stir it. Good to know.

Life has been moving at a rapid pace recently, with lots of changes over the past month. I had to retire the silver bullet, attend the funeral of an amazing man who lived a fantastic life, watch an impressive golfer and even more impressive person fall apart in the prettiest place in the world, get my little dog’s hair cut to transform her from a winter bear to a springtime lamb, run the bridge run with some great old friends, and really start to settle into this job that I love so much. Thankfully, at the last minute, Congress got it together and I still had a job. Haha.

I think things are starting to calm down a little bit, so I’m planning on being much more diligent in my blogging. But then again, I’ve said that before, right?

Before I go, I have some television recommendations – Blue Bloods (if you don’t like Tom Selleck, you hate america) and Chicago Code. Cop shows at their finest. I also watched the first episode of Game of Thrones, which has a great deal of promise, and scared me to death in the first ten minutes, and broke my heart in the last two.

So Icy

charlsiekate — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:18:04 +0000

Everyone in the Southeast had a snow day today. Everyone but a large portion of the city of Charleston. Despite the fact that my stairs were coated with sleet, all of the bridges were closed by 10 am, and ice was heavy on the trees outside my office window, I did not get a snow day. When Susan Elizabeth was in town on New Year’s Day and we drove across the Ravenel Bridge, she told me to make sure I appreciate every day I drive over bridges and across the marsh and the sky. Last week, on my way to work early, the sky behind me was lit with the rising sun and the sky in front of me way navy blue with rolling rain clouds. Above me was seven hued rainbow that arched from horizon to horizon. As I drove, the rain clouds rolled and eventually it was raining on my car while the sun was shining. I love it when the devil is beating his wife.

On rainbow days like that, it is very easy to appreciate the sky and the weather. Today, less so. I’ve decided the way I’m going to make it up to myself for missing a snow day is to make a promise that when it gets warm, I will leave work early whenever possible, and take days off when available, and spend all my time at the beach or on a boat.

Briscoe and I made soup yesterday. I love the way celery and onions smell at the beginning of soup making. And garlic. And tomatoes. Mmmm. I let Briscoe sleep in the bed with me last night because it was so cold, and she’s a great little heater. When I woke up this morning, my feet were cold, and my little fuzzy heater was nowhere to be found. I found her in the middle of the king size guest bedroom, sound asleep. She shattered any delusions I had that she slept in the bed with me because she liked being near me. Obviously I understand she has a lot more room to stretch out in the guest room, but please. I can’t help being a little hurt. She can sleep in the kitchen tonight. On the floor. You know, on a pillow with a blanket. Like a dog.

Natalie and Travers gave me a pair of Hunter boot for Christmas. I wore them for the first time today, and they made a splashing debut. I love them, they make me happy. Travers sent me a text last night around midnight of the snow that was already accumulating in Augusta. Briscoe wanted to be with Bobby playing in the snow. I’m going to take her to the beach to play in the pluff mud sometime soon and make it up to her. She loves mud.

I had my follow up appointment for my appendectomy today. It lasted about three minutes, and I was told I don’t have any activity restrictions, so I don’t have an excuse for not working out. Sigh. No more being lazy. Haha.

Happy Day!

charlsiekate — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:15:17 +0000

About a month ago it was discovered that statue in memory of my sister, Alice, had been stolen from the grounds of the Old Medical College in Augusta. Alice died from a genetic disorder four months before I was born. She was five years old and had been sick for over three years. My parent’s friends got together and raised money and commissioned a Georgia artist, Marshall Daugherty, to create a statue in her memory. It was Daugherty’s last work, as he lost his eyesight shortly after he completed the piece. He told my mother it was his “Ode to Joy”. It was bronze, about three feet high, and sat on a rose marble pillar. Until recently. The loss of the statue was devastating for my parents, another reminder that nothing lasts forever and nothing is sacred. Not even the memory of a child.

But, my awesome to be sister in law, Natalie, was determined to find the statue. She is a prosecutor and worked tirelessly with the Richmond County Sheriff’s office. My parents offered a reward for any information leading to the recovery of the statue. But we were starting to believe that the statue was lost, probably irreparably damaged, most likely melted down for scrap metal.

Then today we got the amazing news that the statue had been recovered! Honestly, I really can’t believe it. Natalie sent me a text message this afternoon that said -

Looky what Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Found!

Apparently a neighbor tipped off the police for the reward money. I’m so relieved, I can’t even tell you! Apparently my dad went straight there and put it in his car. Haha. Hooray!

The Love of October

charlsiekate — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:57:06 +0000

I love October. As a classic Libra, October is my month. The stars tend to line up for me in October. Not in any concrete, observeable way, but more in an inter-balance sort of way.

Briscoe and I are adjusting to our new city. Kate and Trav came to visit last weekend, and Kate and I did the Race For a Cure on Saturday morning with Susan, Jennifer, Mary Righton, Stephanie, Lauren and Meredith. Trav and Briscoe spent the morning bonding. I told Trav that he could tie Briscoe up outside of stores if he needed to, but just to not leave her very long.

Trav’s first stop was the Starbucks in the Frances Marion Hotel. He decided that Briscoe was probably fine to come inside. So he and Briscoe stood in the long line patiently waiting for their turn. It wasn’t until he’d been in the store for about ten minutes and made it up to the counter that anyone even noticed that he’d brought a dog inside. He said the girl behind the counter took one look at her and said – “YOU CAN’T HAVE A DOG INSIDE THE STORE!”

And he said, “oh, okay, can I have my coffee and we’ll leave!”

Haha. It totally makes me laugh to think of the scene.

Then they went to the visitors center, and Trav tied Briscoe up to the bench outside. He said she sat down and stared at him, and a couple walking past said, wow, that is a great dog! After Trav got all the maps of downtown Charleston he could carry and came back outside, the couple was still standing there, watching Briscoe be a great dog. He said his biggest fear was that someone was going to steal her. She’s adjusting to city life quite well.

I’m also adjusting, but I’m starting to have that little homesicky feeling where you start to think of all the people you used to drink beer with on a random tuesday night or the seasonal events you are missing. Then something tragic like a giant tree falling in your parents front yard, and you really sort of wish you were there to see it.

Crazy times, right? Kate said she just hopes no one is trapped underneath all the limbs. I get real sad when trees fall down!

But I’m going to an oyster roast tonight and my new kickball team had it’s first game last night, which was super fun. We lost, but we could have won if the other team hadn’t had a coach. A coach. For kickball. Come on.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

charlsiekate — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:27:36 +0000

It barely rained at all this April, but we’ve had spectacular flowers anyway. Once it did finally start raining in May, everything started growing, growing, growing. Sprouts, shoots, branches, buds, springing up from every empty space. Cracks in the sidewalk, the space between the slats on the porch, the nook in the tree, chinks in the concrete slab back steps, in the gutters on my neighbor’s house, the storm water gutters in the street. There is a weed in my neighborhood that is close to two stories tall. I think it grew up in about two weeks. Everything is green and growing.

I’ve been making Briscoe run with me recently, partially because the puff has gotten fat, and partially because I’m out of shape, and partially because pretty soon it will be so hot that the puff won’t be able to play outside unless it involves swimming. She gets really hot.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog, and blogs, and life on the internet. I recently celebrated my sixth blogiversary, and I’ve become a very slack blogger. I don’t necessarily mind being a bad blogger. But I realized this morning that more importantly than me not blogging, I haven’t been writing much recently. I stopped writing on a regular basis at some point last year, I think. I made excuses that the writing I did at work was the reason for my lack of motivation to write. My new job doesn’t afford much writing, and I can’t use that as a reason anymore. And I still don’t have a lot of motivation to write, which makes me sad.

I know there are other reasons I lost my motivation last year. And I think I know what they are, but I’m not sure they make sense. There were times I was too miserable to write, and times when I was too happy to write, and I’m inclined to say I was also too busy. But I hate that excuse. I don’t care how busy you are, you make time for the things you love. Like the people who tell me they love to read, but just don’t have time. If you loved it that much, you would find the time. Maybe it is simply an over use of the world love. You can’t love an indefinite number of activities. For instance, I like to bake, and I like to cook. But I love to run and I love to read (and I love to drink beer and wine, but that is probably another post). So when I come home from work, instead of going to the grocery story for lots of fun food to prepare the new recipe I just found that I’m excited about – I come home and put a leash on my dog and go for a run.

That’s not to say that I don’t ever cook, because I do, but mostly because I get hungry and have to eat something after I work out, not so much because I just love to do it.

So maybe I just don’t love writing as much as I wish I did. It is sort of like running, in that it can feel like work, but you always feel much better afterwards, and the more you do it the more enjoyable it becomes.

In other news, the new Frosty Card is out. For a dollar you get free frostys for six months! The best part? When your little card’s time runs out – you can buy another card for another dollar! Sigh. It’s one of the greatest things that ever happened. Thank you MCG Children Medical Center for making my summer exceptional!

Also, I would really appreciate it if someone would go to the mall and buy me a bunch of new clothes that I would really like – I need some work clothes and some fun going out clothes and a couple of really cute dresses to wear to weddings and engagement parties this summer. Make sure it is the right size, will be flattering for my figure, is a good color for me, will be appropriate for the occasion, is comfortable, and isn’t too expensive. Thx.

Hi. Remember me? The flaky unreliable one?

charlsiekate — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:28:45 +0000

Y’all, I’m honestly embarrassed by how long it has been since my last post. But I do have a few excuses. I am also well aware that no one wants to hear excuses. But, 2010 has been kind of crazy so far. I left my old job, had a few panic attacks about what I was going to do next, and started a new job that I’m really happy with so far. Somewhere in all of that, I went skiing, spent a week doing hard manual labor for the junior league attic sale (I know the best way to fill up a dumpster with trash), raked over ten huge paper bags full of leaves out of my yard, drank a few liquor drinks and washed a few sandwiches down with beer at the Masters, and celebrated Paige and Jack’s wedding! I’ve made new friends and spent quality time with old friends, and I can say so far that this year is really shaping up. The flowers have been absolutely unbelievable this year. I’ve never seen the azaleas show off so. And guess what I saw today? A HONEYSUCKLE! My favorite jasmine of all times! I got really excited. Briscoe just kind of looked at me like, Lady, get a grip. You know what else has been amazing this year? The pollen. A week or two ago it was basically raining pollen. There was a yellow cloudy haze hanging over the entire city. Pollen accumulated inside my car in amazingly gross amounts. Briscoe turned yellow. You could literally sit and watch it fall like, like, um, I don’t want to say snow, because it doesn’t look like that, it’s more like dust falling, lighter than sand, but not like snow. Maybe sort of like ash? But lighter. Someone said it looked like someone had dusted for finger prints all over Augusta. I think that is the best analogy I’ve heard so far. It falls, but it blows around. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I’ve never seen it as bad it was this year. And it turns EVERYTHING yellow. It’s almost like a nightmare. ANYWAY, the yellow pollen is apparently not the pollen that makes you feel bad, because if it’s big enough to see, it’s too big to inhale, and the pollen you inhale is much too small to see. The small pollen has been slowly killing me. I’ve decided to coin this illness as the yellow lung. No more complaints of allergies. I’m dying of the yellow lung. I like to think my voice sounds cooler with the deep raspy tone I’ve recently developed, but we all know I’m not rational about such things. I infinitely prefer the noise my window unit air conditioner makes to my noise machine when I sleep at night. Like, a bazillion times over. One day I’ll get my upstairs connected to the central air, but right now I’m sort of loving the window unit. Is that bad? Does recycling atone for my window unit sins? My new favorite television show is Mercy. The people on this show are ridiculously good looking, total alcoholics, and complete trainwrecks. But I have to say they all seem to have a super sense of humor. I love a dark drama that also makes me cry laughing. It happens rarely, if ever. My other favorite show is Cougar Town. I didn’t want to like it, but I really REALLY love it. LOVE. I hope you all had a very pleasant Monday, and that Tuesday is an even better day. The lamb and I are going to sleep tight. Sweet dreams!

Drop off a Bear, pick up a Lamb

charlsiekate — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:14:48 +0000

Briscoe is at the salon today, getting her hair did. Her hair was getting so long I was starting to feel neglectful. I can’t wait to pick her up so Bobby can have a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.

I’ve been getting some awesome blog love from Betsy and Molly, my sweet Atlanta friends who I never get to see. But I was lucky enough to see BOTH of them this past week. It’s amazing how long you can go without catching up with the important people in your life. Actually, it’s amazing how fast time goes by and how quickly life seems to happen.

Speaking of which, I’m really happy that the time changed last weekend and the daylight last an hour longer every day from now on until the fall. I love spring, and I love summer, and I’m excited. Also, I’m starting a new job on Monday! It’s time for new beginnings, and I’m ready for a new challenge. Until Monday, I’m working on getting my life put together and cleaning my house for the Masters! Did you hear that Tiger is going to make it this year? I don’t know how I feel about it – it’s going to bring a lot more hype to the week, which can be fun, but it can also make everything more difficult for us local people. But the golf traffic signs are up and the flowers are starting to bloom!

First the red buds were blooming, then the Japanese magnolias and now the Carolina jasmine and the blue star onion flowers have started to bloom and it’s only going to get better from here!

Soon the cherries and the dogwood and the azaleas and wisteria and the whole world will be covered in flowers and everything will smell wonderful! I can’t wait.

Of course, all this talk of warm weather and flowers blooming ignores the reality of pollen and allergies and bugs. After playing tennis outside last night in Waynesboro I was violently reminded of the reality of pollen and bugs. I think the flowers and the pretty weather are worth it.

Happy Tuesday!

12 Bands of Christmas!

charlsiekate — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:00:49 +0000

Please visit The 12 Bands of Christmas website and buy a ticket to the show this Friday night and the CD! It’s going to be awesome and benefits Pediatric Cancer research and honors seven year old Brennan Simkins who is currently battling cancer. Brennan is an amazing kid and has a wonderful family who deserve all the support in the world! See you there!

(I can’t get the flyer to post to the blog, I apologize, but follow the link above! Thanks!