Unfortunately - x 5.

Type the words "Unfortunately (your name)" in Google and see what you get.

In my case:
1) Unfortunately, Sarah took these and many other fascinating facts with her to her grave.
2) Unfortunately Sarah and Aldous have chosen the same place to take their vacation.
3) Unfortunately, Sarah's not telling the truth.
4) Unfortunately, Sarah is unprepared for her attraction to John Churchill, a handsome soldier of much merit and little fortune. (What is that - a latter-day Jane Austen novel?)
5) Unfortunately Sarah cannot understand the thick drawls of many Senators from Alabama, resulting in many unintentional misquotes.

Hysterical? I thought so, too.

{Many thanks to Jenny at Allsorts for the idea.}

old friends

Did you know that I have adored these two since I was very small? My parents had this record, and I had it on tape, and now we can all listen, thanks to the Internet (complete with transition into what we all know as Feelin' Groovy). Lindsey bought me tickets to their reunion tour here in Atlanta, and Paul wore a fairly ridiculous almost-midriff-baring shirt that did not take away from how awesome they still are, always have been, and ever shall be, world without end, amen. Something my father told me when I was very small (along with the fact that if I was mean to him we would go to the New Dad Store, and I'd have a new daddy, which would make me cry AND behave) was that S&G were wonderful because they sounded as good live as they did recorded, and vice versa. He also used this logic to try to explain that one never needed to see them live. ;)

Actually, Art Garfunkel ranks on my top 5 most transcendent live musical experiences of all time:
5) Art Garfunkel, Riverbend, Chattanooga, 2002
4) Better than Ezra, Tipitina's Uptown, New Orleans, Mardi Gras 1999
3) Cowboy Mouth, JazzFest, New Orleans, 2002
2) Torrence Welch, Georgia Tech Orchestra, Atlanta, 2006
1) Wild Women Blues, Paris, 2001

If you really care for me to annotate this list, I could, but I doubt anyone really wants me to.

Anyway, the old friends thought came because I talked to an old friend on the phone tonight, making plans for our NOLA adventure later this summer, a phone call inspired by the amazing things I have heard at the reading conference over the past few days, that reminded me of my much more socially active college self, all of which has steeled my resolve to go back to the classroom after one more year in this job.

With any luck, by this weekend I'll have processed everything enough to write a decent narrative about what I learned, which I will probably post here for anyone who might be interested. I know you'll be waiting with bated breath.

Enjoyed all of the bad stuff.

Found this awesome book/concept somewhere in blogland, so naturally, I had to head to the bookstore and order it. Then, I had to buy this awesome song on ITunes. The last thing I bought on ITunes didn't impress Lindsey, but this did, so I think we're back to even. Maybe.

So here's your challenge for the week: six word memoirs. GO!!!! We're counting this as a 5 thingies post, even if it's really 5+1.

PS Apologies to Geri, fabulous Paris Swap partner, as there are no pictures yet of her stupendous treats. However, I will remedy this soon, I promise.

Tagged...

I'd be hard pressed at this point to say exactly how I found Julie's blog over at Red Hen Studios, but she's always posting fun stuff. And her kids are involved in the coolest things. Plus, right this second, very cool music is playing from her blog! Stop by & visit.

So Julie tagged me for a 6 Random Things meme. Fortunately, randomness is my forte, so this is not TOO challenging.

The rules for this are easy:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Here are 6 things about me:
1. I went to Mardi Gras for the first time when I was 6, was knocked unconscious by a spooked horse, had a concussion, went to the hospital, appeared on the evening news after my dad almost smacked a rude cameraman while carrying me out of the hospital, was mended, & then taken to more parades by my parents. And it's any wonder I went back to New Orleans for school?? :)

2. I have used the phrase "blown to Oz" more times than I can count in the last 24 hours, and my husband is REALLY hoping I won't use it all tomorrow. Or, really, ever again.

3. #1 ended my professional football career, because now I'm afraid to get another concussion. One of my high school friends did a brainscan of me for a science fair project, and one of my brainwaves really does fire early, which is consistent with head trauma. Cool, huh??

4. I listen to a LOT of NPR. A lot. And now I get my favorite shows' podcasts to listen to while I drive all over Nowhereville, Georgia. And I am actually seriously annoyed by the fact that it costs MONEY to get Prairie Home Companion's podcast.

5. While 85% of all statistics are made up on the spot, 92% of all listreaders don't read #5 on any given list.

6. I will buy all of my clothes used, and pay full price for books. It's not a hard & fast rule, but it happens A LOT, and says a lot about what makes me happy - shelves full of books. :) And on that note, I'll be sharing some fabulous bookie finds with you tomorrow, as well as a nifty Easter craft, not to mention some cute pictures from last Sunday's zoo outing. PHEW!

I TAG YOU!:
* Melissa, of Sparkly Like a Holiday
* Natalie, of Betternat Squash
* Lennye, of Life is Hard, Enjoy the Ride
* Jeannie, of Put Some Polka Dots On It
* Sarah, of The Misadventures of Mama & Jack/Making Projiks
* Kristin, of My Polka-Dotted World

A smelly post...

Now, I have pseudo-autistic hypersensitivities just like Monkey, but mine are more of the texture variety than the smell variety, so this is not as exciting for me as it was for her. Lindsey suggested that I list the smell of fresh hundred-dollar bills, but I worked at a bank one summer during college, & that smell is actually kind of gross. :)

So, 5 Things That I Like to Smell, in no particular order, and by no means an exhaustive list:

1) Fresh-baked bread.

2) Imminent rain.

3) Line-dried sheets. (I WILL have a clothesline by summer, I will!)

4) Mr. Sketch SCENTED markers.

5) Old books.

Next?

A happy post....

Since I'm WAY behind on Monkey's latest 5 Things posts, I thought I'd catch up. I can't promise that all three will get done tonight, though. :)

First up: 5 Places I've Been, But I'd Like to See Again!

1. Prague. We've appreciated my obsession before, but let's continue to do so today. WARNING: More social studies geekiness approacheth. There are two HUGE reasons that Prague is in better shape today than most of the rest of Eastern Europe: a) Hitler wanted to make the city into a museum of extinct Jewish culture, so he didn't desecrate the city's large Jewish quarter, and b) even Communism is better in the Czech Republic, so the city just didn't suffer as much as most other places did. Thus, large parts of Prague & the Czech countryside look just as they did centuries ago, despite two hot wars & a cold one, too. In a nutshell, if you ever get the opportunity to visit, please do so. :)


2. Yosemite National Park. When my uncle lived in San Francisco, we went to visit one summer, & drove up the California coast to Yosemite. It was amazing, but my anti-outdoorsy family didn't do nearly as much cool stuff as we could have. We did, however, get to stay at this fantastic old hotel, which I loved.


3. Boston. I've only been once, and it was blisteringly hot, but I still want to go back & visit. ;)


4. New York - but I get to go on Friday. Whoo-hoo!!!

5. And, because it's Mardi Gras, and because there's nowhere on the planet like it, New Orleans.


Pictures are all courtesy of ye olde Internet.

5 Places I'd Like to Visit.

Continuing the trend from Melissa -

1) Portland, Maine
2) Portland, Oregon
3) San Diego, California
4) Key West, Florida
5) Idaho - any of it, because I think it's the coolest-shaped state. We have friends from Idaho who are very nifty, as well.

I only picked places I haven't been yet, because it was more fun, but there are definitely some places I'd love to REvisit. Maybe Melissa will let me do that in the near future. :)

5 Things.

Here begins a new "thing," courtesy of Melissa & her hysterical self. If you could only eat at 5 restaurants for the rest of your life, what would they be? (Okay, now, this is the part were y'all are all going to start rolling your eyes back in your head, because I've decided these restaurants can be anywhere on the entire planet, or at least the portion I've visited, so as to increase the variety!)

In the interest of fairness, I'm going to accompany these with photos. Let's see if I can make that work:

1) The aforementioned Mi Barrio.







2) Perraudin - in Paris. Partially for sentimental reasons, but also because it's the home of amazing food that changes daily! See - variety!




3) The Obecni Dum - in Prague. Not really a restaurant, but they serve about 40 different kinds of cake, which also change daily. More variety!






4) Ingleside Village Pizza - in Macon. Huge selection of imported beer, pizza, and garlic-butter breadsticks. What more do you need? They also have good salads, since I should probably have a vegetable sooner or later in this culinary odyssey.





5) Mandina's & Brocato's - in New Orleans. Really, I could do this post solely based on New Orleans, which maybe I will at a later date. Anyway, classic nice New Orleans food (sausage sandwiches & turtle soup) at Mandina's, then a walk across the street to Brocato's for the best ice cream in the world (closely chased by that of Berthillon on the Ile St. Louis in Paris). And I'll be having the Rum Custard ice cream. I always order that & then try other people's flavors to confirm that I made the right choice. It took these two places forever to open after Katrina, and they're open, a fact that, on the right day, can make me cry.

So there you go. Five places to eat for the rest of my life.