Feeds:
Posts
Comments

I’m leaving in a few minutes to drive to the ATL so I can fly to New Orleans in the morning.  Betsy and Andrew are getting married on Saturday, and the weekend is going to be slam packed with excitement.  My flight lands around noon tomorrow, Todd is suppose to take the day off from the Dome(and maybe pick me up from the airport, if I’m lucky), and everyone arriving for the wedding should be there by the time the crawfish boil starts tomorrow night.  Todd has also promised a St. Patrick’s day parade at some point, and definitely some green beer. 

I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone, so many special friends from the law school years, and I’m so excited for Betsy and Andrew.  I tell Betsy all the time that I want to be just like her when I grow up.  She’s such an amazing friend and I’m always impressed with how she and Andrew are able to have common goals and dreams and actively pursues these goals and dreams together in a successful and exciting way.  I love them.  And I love Kaya too. 

Pray that it doesn’t rain, and I hope that your Friday the 13th is as fun as mine promises to be!

Kisses!

Daylight Savings

I am so happy.  It is a beautiful day, the temperature is just to my liking, and I have a whole extra hour of sunshine to enjoy.  Tomorrow morning when I have to wake up an hour earlier I doubt I will be so blissful, but right now I’m extremely pleased. 

Yesterday was the Junior League Attic Sale.  I honestly can’t remember the last time I did so much straight up manual labor in one day.  I moved furniture, shutters, plywood, tables, and about everything else under the sun, including a box of children’s shoes, which were pretty cute.  I have been dreading the attic sale for months.  Last saturday we had to move everything from the warehouse to the fairgrounds, and then we worked from 6-9 every night this week, and finally had to be at the fairgrounds at 6:30 yesterday morning.  None of that sounded like a lot of fun to me.  I seriously considered dropping out.  But I’ve never quit anything in my life, and I didn’t really want to start now.  But, I also hate to be a part of anything that I can’t be enthusiastic about and I hate people who have bad attitudes, and I didn’t want to be the person with the bad attitude.  So I tried to suck it up.  And you know, it did end up being fun, and I’m really glad I didn’t drop out.  It went by a lot quicker than I anticipated.  But it was a lot of work, and it was really dirty.  My elbows hurt.  And I made some friends. 

Yesterday afternoon (after a hot shower) we went to Vallartas and ate cheese dip and drank beers and margaritas and relaxed in the sunshine and it was so nice to be finished with all the hard work and it was so warm outside I was able to wear my favorite summer dress for the for time this year.  I listened to my new friends tell the stories of how they ended up in augusta and what led them to the junior league.    I convinced everyone that they wanted to come over to my new house and sit on my front porch.  It was awesome.  My sweet little house has been empty for a couple of years and it is so happy to have people to sit on it’s front porch on Saturday night.  I just hope my new neighbors are as excited as my house is. 

Speaking of my house, I’m going to go over there in a few minutes and take some pictures.  I should have taken pictures as soon as I bought it, but it was pouring down rain all last weekend and so dark, and then I’ve been at the fairgrounds all week, but today is beautiful and I want to take pictures before we paint and decorate and get everything together.  I will try to put some up so you can see the progress. 

My aching muscles and joints are having a battle with my brain.  My brain is saying, GET UP!  GO DO SOMETHING!  IT’S SO PRETTY!  YOU HAVE THINGS TO DO!  My joints and muscles are saying, PLEASE LEAVE US ALONE!  STOP ABUSING US!  WE’VE HAD ENOUGH!!

The Blog LoveFest

Betsy and I have been having a little reciprocal love on the blogs, which is probably only entertaining to the two of us, and for that I apologize.  But I do have a few more things to say about Betsy, in response to her last post about me

My law school friends referred to Betsy as the WGF, which stands for World’s Greatest Flirt.  And I learned a great deal about flirting from the Betsy, who is truly, a master.  She is such a phenomenal flirt, she once convinced a gay man to rent his house to her, instead of selling it.  The house was on the market, had a for sale sign in the yard, and was listed for something close to a million dollars.  Betsy called the man and flirted her way into a rental for herself and three other girls.  To this day, the house is still being rented to four girls, the original girls have slowly gotten married or moved away and have been replaced.  But I still have a key to this magical house, lovingly referred to as the Terrace. 

When the grass would get too long on the front lawn of the Terrace, Betsy would simply find some unsuspecting yard man during her afternoon run and convince him to stop by her house on his way home and mow the lawn real quick for $20.  Luckily, she is a bilingual flirt, and her Spanish has come in handy at such times.   

Did I mention the fact that Betsy is an aerobics instructor?  I’ve heard her step and her sculpt class are legendary.  I’ve heard, mostly because I’m too uncoordinated to do aerobics, and she has this horrible habit of teaching class at 6 am. 

Betsy taught me how to take the five extra minutes and ask about the sale price that rang up more than what was on the shelf, how to convince a mechanic to plug the hole in your tire for a $10 tip, and the best way to handle a server at a restaurant who is less than thrilled to be taking your order.  Betsy’s ability to handle people always amazes and inspires me. 

I wish we were eating lunch at five star, or the cafe at pharr, or the resort.  Sigh.  Another day.

Y’all, Betsy is awesome.  She wrote this post that basically made me tear up.  I LOVE the things that she listed (the mini skirt part makes me laugh, that was only a phase I went through for four or seven years, mostly at football games).  But don’t let her lie to you.  I copy her even more than she copies me.  The cross I wear around my neck?  That I’ve been wearing almost every day for the past nine years?  She had it first.  And I wanted it.  And if you know me, you know that I never want to have on the same thing as someone else.  I’m very concerned with being my own person and with having my own special, different jewelry, clothing, shoes, dog, basically, I want to be different. But Betsy is one of the few people who I wanted to copy and who I knew wouldn’t mind if I copied her.  Actually, from the moment I met Betsy, the week of rush our freshman year of college, I really wanted to be her friend.  Luckily, we ended up on the same lawn on bid day, and had a unique opportunity to be friends.   

Betsy and I share the love of many things, often things that other people dislike.  We share the bizarre appreciation of getting into a hot car that has been baking in the sun on a summer day, we both have an extreme dislike of authority, and any time I get lost in the ATL I know that all I have to do is call Betsy and she will know exactly where I am and where I am going and how I need to get there. 

We use the same kind of toothbrush, make up, and have been known to steal each other’s hair brush.  She taught me how to not wash my hair every day and the usefulness of a nalgene bottle.  She introduced me to Amos Lee and Patty Griffin, who both changed my life.  Together we learned accounting, forgiveness, trust, finance, how to get over a break up, how to survive a terrible football game date, how to put the pieces back together when our carefully laid plans didn’t work out (margarita machines come in handy at such times and can be rented by the night), and how just laying in the grass in the front yard can solve a lot of problems. 

I know Betsy and I will continue to copy each other, although she is a little ahead of me in life right now.  I was really looking forward to meeting Baby Charlsie Bagwell, but since Betsy is set to have a BOY in a few months, the world is going to have to wait on Baby Charlsie (Betsy, I’m  serious, I think Charlsie Bagwell has a nice ring to it, we can call her CB and ask her what her 20 is all the time, and say things like, 10-4, over). It makes me so happy that Briscoe and Amos are the same kind of dog, because Betsy and I are the same kind of people.  We are Kindred Spirits.  Our dogs have our personalities, which is just the way it should be.  I want to be like Briscoe, and Amos and Betsy – light, fluffy, happy, and adventurous. 

There are a lot of other things I need to tell you all, the last few weeks have been eventful, and the next few weeks are going to be crazy.  My whole body is tired.  But I will leave you with this one update.    

And a few links to my favorite Betsy posts – Trampolines and Daydreams, Betsy in the PondWow!  Well, you look great!,  and finally, the windsor post.  Sweet dreams friends.

How fun is this?

Seriously, I love me some Bizzy Fain.  I got an email from her discussing plans for the Masters, which is extremely exciting.  The only way that I am suffering through the cold that is lingering around our subtropical locale is by thinking of the poor little flowers and how I don’t want them to bloom too early and miss their chance to be on television.  So emails abou the Masters are fun. 

But this little nugget of awesome was just received from the Bizzy.  http://wordsmith.org/anagram/.  You can put your name in it and it makes a list of anagrams.  Bizzy’s favorites for Charlsie Paine were – Peachier Nails, A Reliance Ship, and Cheap Airlines.  A couple more –  A Place Shinier, A Pelicans Heir.  Bizzy’s name makes much stranger phrases.  Like – A Nib Fizzy, and An By Fizz I.  If you add my middle name, Kate, then you get even better words – Cheapskate Airline, A Hairpiece Anklets, Teacake Plane Irish,Pancake Realise Hit. 

I’m thinking about what I’m going to give up for lent.  Maybe facebook.  I can’t decide.  I can’t believe it starts tomorrow!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Edit: I forgot to tell y’all the best thing that happened to me today.  I was driving down the road to the courthouse, and a song came on the radio, and I was like, I know this song, what is it?  It was MAN IN MOTION.  I had to call jennifer at work and let her listen to it through the phone.  Also, this comes in as close second of best things to happen so far today (besides the valentines I got in the mail!  AGHHH!  LOVE IT), complements of Thrill – http://smouch.net/lol/.

I like Friday the 13th for the most part, the only thing I hate about it is that they release horror movies on Friday the 13th, and I hate horror movies.  Just watching the previews gives me nightmares, actually, just tivoing through the previews freaks me out.  Ugh.  I can’t handle the mental images.  It makes watching tv less fun.  And March has a Friday the 13th as well. 

Christy is coming to visit today!  I’m so excited!  We are going to have a great time.  I cleaned my house and everything.  I can’t wait. 

I will have five years of blog entries at the end of this month.  Which means I have four past years of Valentine’s Day entries. 

So, for 2005:

https://charlsiekate.com/2005/02/14/thanks-oliver/

https://charlsiekate.com/2005/02/14/sugar-cookies/

https://charlsiekate.com/2005/02/14/hallmark/

2006:

https://charlsiekate.com/2006/02/14/happy-valentines-day/

https://charlsiekate.com/2006/02/14/happy-cookie-and-candy-day/

2007:

as close as I can get for 2007 – https://charlsiekate.com/2007/02/12/wedding-registries/

2008:

and as close as it gets for 2008 – https://charlsiekate.com/2008/02/11/the-beautiful-days-of-february/

 

Plus my favorite Briscoe entry ever – https://charlsiekate.com/2008/02/25/we-miss-you/

The Grammys

I didn’t watch them last night, but I dvred it, and I watched it Monday night when everyone else was watching the press conference.  I care about the economy, but I spend a lot of time reading about it and was a little overloaded.  I wanted to be entertained, not frightening about my future. 

 I really enjoyed it.  I have pretty mainstream music taste, as Travers say, I have an ipod full of music that sucks.  But I love the people that were nominated.  I teared up when Sugarland won, and I about started bawling when Jennifer Hudson sang.  Al Green appeared to be having the time of his life (and I wasn’t sure if Justin was going to be able to resist making out with the Reverend), and Coldplay seemed genuinely happy and excited and maybe even grateful for winning, which I found refreshing.   I love Jason Mraz, and I really wish I had the Kid Rock album.  I love Miley, and Taylor Swift is my girl.   Umm, and the Jonas Brothers make me happy.  And they sang two of my favorite songs, ahhhh.  Stevie was slipping into the lava before he got superstitious.  Even my old childhood friends (David and Charles) were nominated (TWICE!).   Katy Perry seems like such a cool person.  She has the word Jesus tattooed on her wrist.  Her parents are evangelical ministers and her first album was a Christian album under the name Katy Hudson.  She said the tattoo reminds her of where she came from and what she can always go home to.  I’ve had her cd for a while, and now I like her even more than I did before.  I think we could be friends. 

And NEIL DIAMOND!  Singing Sweet Caroline!  I was instantly transported back to a karoke/oyster shack in panama city that only served high life beer by the pitcher with Sarah, Wes, Clint, Heath, and Emily. 

I love Alison Krauss, I think she is a musical genius, but she didn’t seem real happy to be there.  I want to believe that she is painfully shy, but she almost acted like holding the grammy award was beneath her.  I’m going to go ahead and give her the benefit of the doubt because of how her music has enriched my life, but it’s kind of hard. 

I think what I liked best about the Grammys was that an equal amount of respect was given to all genres of music, and how much fun everyone seemed to be having.  I assume that country music has been embraced because County music has the best fans in America and Nashville is a town to be reckoned with.  Lady Antebellum was nominated for Best New Artist overall, not just in country, which sort of goes to show you how big country music has become.  But I think it’s awesome that the rap stars and the country stars and the pop stars and the rock stars and everyone else hang out and enjoy each other on Grammy night.  I liked watching the guy from Green Day hug Alison Krauss.  For some reason that kind of cracked me up.  It just seemed like a happy fun event that the participants sincerely enjoyed.  And that is always entertaining.  I will always take Happy over Controversial any day. 

Britt and I have the exact music taste, it’s actually sort of creepy.  Sometimes we blast music in the house and sing at the top of our lungs.  We sound awesome.  Briscoe and Grayson love it when we sing.

This is how I’ve been feeling lately, minus the snow of course. 

But!  This weekend!  It was so amazing!  It was flip flop weather!  And the Blue Onion Stars are back!  And the red buds are blooming!  And the smell of dirt is making me happy!  Briscoe and I even drove around in the convertable for a while, which she really enjoyed. 

Yesterday was a fabulously beautiful day, I had a great time.  Sometimes I’m impressed by how much can be packed into one day. 

Now I just need to get my fluffy dog’s hair cut so she can enjoy the warm weather too, because right now she seems to be feeling a little hot.  And I’m going to start running more and get back into shape. 

Happy Times.

Have you ever played with the Enneagram?  It’s basically a personality profile, with the numbers 1-9, for instance, I’m a 7 with a 6 wing.  (sevens can either have 6 or 8 wings, does that make sense?

Well, it’s kind of creepy how textbook my personality is.  I am Personality type 7 is called the Enthusiast, which is one of my favorite words.  I get really enthusiast about most everything.  The book says that sevens are “enthusiastic about almost anything that catches their attention.  They approach life with curiosity, optimism, and a sense of adventure like a kid in a candy store  who looks at the world in wide eyed rapt anticipation of all the good things they are about to experience. …They have a quality best described by the Yiddish word chutzpah – a kind of brash nerviness.”  Tonight I was really enthusiastic about the 3-D glasses for the super bowl commercial.  My enthusiasm often leads to disappointment, i.e. the 3-D glasses and the lame commercial.

The Enthusiast is “the busy, fun-loving type: spontaneous, versatile, acquisitive, scattered.”

I thought this was interesting – “Sevens deal with anxiety in two ways.  First, they try to keep their minds busy all of the time.  As long as they can keep their minds occupied, especially with projects and positive ideas for the future, they can, to some extent, keep anxiety and negative feelings out of their conscious awareness.”

In the margin it says – “I still haven’t figure out what I want to be when I grow up.”

Ahh, and this – “Furthermore, as sevens speed up their pursuit of whatever seems to offer freedom and satisfaction, they tend to make worse choices, and they are less able to be satisfied because everything is experienced indirectly, through the dense filter of their fast paced mental activity. ”

But then it goes on to say that sevens are extremely optimistic, exuberant and upbeat people, and that when balanced, their joy and enthusiasm  for life naturally affects everyone around them.

Gah, I know y’all are tired of this, and some of the other things this books says are so dead on and not positive, it sort of makes me want to not read it anymore.  But it’s interesting, because if the basic pattern is true, I guess the bad parts are also things to think about.

Foggy Muddy Pawprints

Yesterday was something of a disaster.  My flight got in from New York late Sunday night, and I was exhausted when I woke up Monday morning.  In order to stay in bed for three more minutes I checked out the weather on my phone.  The weather channel said it was FOGGY, but only a 10% chance of rain.  I assumed this meant it was going to be foggy in the morning and clear up later, and it wasn’t going to rain. 

I was in a huge rush, and the dogs were being absolutely ridiculous in the backyard, so I threw them both a rawhide, put their water outside, and left them in the fog. 

Work was a little hectic, and I was busy, so I didn’t really think much about what was going on outside, other than to observe that it was still foggy.  Around 11:45 I checked the weather again, and it said – Light Rain.  And I got a little concerned. 

I looked out the window, and realized that although the rain was very light, it had been falling for a long time.  Which meant the dogs had been playing in the rain for hours.  Um.  I’m an idiot. 

I rushed home, to find two very wet, very muddy, VERY happy puppies.  Briscoe was a dark brown color and the white parts of Grayson were no longer visible.  And they were SOAKING.  I changed out of my work clothes, dragged them both through the house to my bathroom as quickly as possible, and gave them both a bath.  They both have winter haircuts, which basically means they have four to five times more hair now than they do in the summer.  It is amazing how much water their coats can hold.  And every bit of it was sopping with dirt.  It was a river of mud in the bathtub, and they were both ticked that I cut short their fun play time to give them the dreaded bath. 

After the baths, I had to wash the seventeen towels that were necessary in this task, and scrub muddy puppy paw prints off the floor of the kitchen and the rest of the house.  If you don’t wash dogs, you might not know this, but leaning over to wash two dogs does something painful to my hamstrings, and causes them to tremble, for hours.   I threw my work clothes back and rushed back to work.  Needless to say my hair left something to be desired on a professional standard yesterday afternoon. 

Since this was not the relaxing lunch I had been looking forward to, the rest of my afternoon was a blur.  I guess you could say a Foggy blur.  Cause, it’s still foggy, even today. 

But I did go to the trouble to go to the grocery so I could make soup last night.  Soup is awesome, cause you cook everything in the same pot and then put that pot in the fridge, and there is nothing to wash!  I can’t tell you how happy I was to sit on the couch last night with a glass of red wine  and two clean puppies, while my soup simmered and I watched all the television my DVR had saved for me.  It almost made me appreciate the almost disastrous day.  As I scratched Grayson’s ear, I realized he was still wet from his bath, but I let him stay on the couch anyway. 

Sigh.  And now it’s Tuesday.