Weary

Okay, this is a two part blog entry. The first part is where I whine about how tired I am and my follow-up visit to the neurologist. Your reward for listening to this rant is the second part of the blog where I finally give up the goods on the visit to Jim Neely's from our Memphis trip. OR, I suppose you can just skip to that part but it's not stopping me from whining.

PART 1: So, I go to my follow-up like the good little patient where the doctor, for the second time, is convinced I have made up ever having had a previous MRI because the hospital has lost the results. Nevermind that my husband accompanied me to said MRI, he's clearly in on the scam, we spent 30 minutes on this. Again. Before he finally admitted maybe I should just go have another one. And, again, most of this visit was spent on random discussions on how it's all just guessing and how am I sure I feel the same. OF COURSE I FEEL THE SAME! HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING BUT CALL FOR MY "IMAGINED" MRI RESULTS!!!

All of this leads me into how tired I am. Not just tired but weary, exhausted from all the doctors, and tests and medicines to tell me I need to lose weight. Done it. Now lose more weight. Ok, working on it. Now take this pill. No, wait, the blue pill. No, wait, I meant these 4 red pills, but only at night with bread. If you still get migraines, and feel dizzy then try the pink pills, two red ones and no blue ones but try this orange one instead. Seriously, I hear Jefferson Starship playing "White Rabbit" in the background but without any of the fun trippiness. Mostly, I'm cranky, snappish and more than a little moody which is asking a lot for my husband to deal with but he does. And I start to feel like maybe I am a little bit crazy, I mean maybe my head hurting and feeling terrible is all in my head somehow - you know what I mean here. You almost wish they would find something on the MRI just so you could go "Ah" see, I told you! But then, clearly there's something wrong with you and you don't want to have a horrible illness just for validation. Seriously, I'm stubborn but there are limits here people. Anyway, 9:45 tomorrow MRI. You all are my witness and if need be, I'm calling all you asses if have to, 'cause he's really pushing it with this imaginary results business. Clearly, I've reached my limit!

Part 2: Jim Neely's is just as tasty as I hyped it up to be. It deserves all the Food Network attention and then some. Now, in the order of full disclosure I have to admit that we had less than desirable service and some of my crankiness begin to show through when I was not kept to my regular scheduled lunch timing - we went in around 1:15 and got food about 3 and thought ourselves lucky to see it. Bo mentioned his last visit it was prompt service so it could've been a holiday weekend thing.

Here's the thing. There were plenty of people who appeared to be working there but only one woman who was truly running the show and she was busy. Also, the quality of your service was clearly equal to the quality of your attitude. Bo and Rolland being nice southern boys, and me keeping my mouth shut, got us our food and drinks eventually. They got the Sampler Platters with pork and beef served in a variety of styles - ALL GOOD. I got a BBQ beef sandwich and sides. Also, tasty! Most important take away is that even with the wait, I would still go back and wait for it again, it was that good. And, that entertaining. Several people put on a show in terms of their styles. One table, not going to wait and made their feelings known. Our waitress responded in kind. The table behind us gracious and loved the place. Our waitress also responded in kind. Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ in Memphis is worth the visit for wonderful BBQ and truly wonderful people watching.

I can't sleep earrings

Other people drink warm milk. I solder. I couldn't sleep so I went ahead and finished up my soldering tonight. The husband thought these would make especially cute earrings and he was right. Little mini-dominoes with soldered edges and a jump ring make great earrings! I have one piece that needs new glass, the previous glass got cracked somehow so it has to be unfoiled, re-glassed, re-foiled. You get the picture.

Anyway, here's a fairly late night post and if you need a new trick for not being able to sleep. I highly recommend these. Also, if you need some fun light reading I just finished Victoria Laurie's new mystery today. She's a terrific author who also happens be a professional psychic living in Austin.

Busy, busy day!

I put in my Eureka DVDs and got a head start on Halloween. Tomorrow is solder day and then a few will get made into larger pieces with beaded necklaces, others will be stand alone charms. I'm also making a piece where the central charm is Rolland's pic from when he was a little boy. I ordered some great red beads for this one. Once I'm finished, I'm finally going to post back to my ETSY store. I need to get back up and going on a schedule again.

Taking Care of Business ... Memphis Style

We had a great weekend in Memphis in our extremely mini-version of Feasting on Asphalt that morphed into an homage to Elvis, although I'm not sure those two things aren't related. Our friend Bo came along as another fan of both Alton Brown and Elvis - he was also a terrific road trip guide, and came prepared with all things electronic so Rolland didn't have to worry about anything he may have left at home. We were clearly covered in the way of things that plugged in. In fact, the quote on the road was that it was like riding in the "firefly" - again, you guys have to watch it. I'm not going to keep babying you with the link, well, just this once. Go here.

Saturday we got into Graceland bright and early. The pic is of Bo and Rolland (he's in purple in case you wondered), in the hallway heading for the jungle room after having left my favorite room and the other pic, the TV room. The TV room could hold up today with a few tiny changes (and I covet that monkey!). The jungle room, however, was more than a little disappointing. It had very little in the way of a jungle and didn't live up to all they hype I had built up in my mind. After much more touring and shopping at Graceland we headed for lunch at Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ. More to come on that on tomorrow's blog - yes, it requires it's own entry.

After lunch, we hit the road heading for Sun Studio as a nice compliment to the earlier Graceland visit. Let me just say, if you ever get a chance to visit, you should. I thought the tour and the studio were awesome and really give you a sense of the history of the town as the birthplace of some of the most amazing music in the world. It really was wonderful.

A quick stop at the hotel and then we headed to Beale Street, apparently, the area has undergone some major revitalization and it showed. The neon signs on the restaurants, bars and clubs were whimsical and lovely. One of my favorites, of course included the crown. There were tons of places to satisfy the craving for "big ass beer" - what's up with that by the way? And there was some terrific music. We had an amazing dinner at a fantastic restaurant where we were drawn in by a lovely man in a truly one of a kind blue suit, alas, no blue suede shoes, but it did seem to fit the theme pretty closely anyway. You can see the waffle I still envy that Bo ordered, along with his chicken. I stuck with the chicken fried chicken while Rolland had the fried chicken and greens. All of it, was very tasty! We were not led astray by the blue suit. This was a fitting end to our feasting tour of Memphis.

I encourage everyone to take to the road and their own adventure - ours paid of in spades. I have some great memories, and ate some terrific food, plus I got to see Graceland before the monstrosity of a visitor center goes up! So hit the road people - there's tasty goodness out there.

Beads, beads and more beads!

I ended up staying home today because of a migraine which allowed me to catch up on sleep and feel drugged for a lot of the day. But, I did sneak in a few episodes of the Ghost Whisper, yes, my husband is also appalled, and I got in my bead order! My friend Ceeg asked me to make a few pieces for him after seeing my Family History piece at the art show at work, his Mom is a genealogist, so he thought his would be an awesome gift so it was the perfect opportunity to go bead shopping.

I ordered smoky quartz in multiple sizes, I'm finding this is a great go to bead for just about everything. I love the color and the variations in styles. It works really well with the black and white images and typography. I also went wild with the bright red coral, I want to try a really bright piece with my vintage Bakelite dominoes and dice. We'll see how it goes. I'm also experimenting with a variation on the amazonite tourmaline. It's a beautiful sea green, black and white combination in a square puff cut that I think will add beautiful color to a black and white piece. All I have to do now is get to work!

Movie Updates

Oh yeah, I forgot to give the latest in movie updates for the weekend! It was like a mini-Firefly reunion since Alan Tudyk was in Death at a Funeral an Nathan Fillion was in Waitress. Death at a Funeral was great with only the occasional lapses in funny moments and Waitress, which I also loved and tried to ignore all the real life drama about since it was too sad for me to concentrate on the film if I dwelled. I therefor tried to only focus on the on-screen goings on as well as the pie. I loved the pies and the amazingly subtle costuming.

I have a good friend who used to be a professional costumer and she's made me appreciate how we don't really admire the modern costuming in films. It's all given to things like Memoirs of Geisha or period pieces, which are amazing but think about some of the subtle costume choices and characterization shown in some of the movies like Syriana based on costuming, ok I'm off the soapbox about that so I can move on to further soapboxing.

p.s. If you don't know about Firefly then a) shame on you and b) remedy that right now! The movie list is shrinking but it's still fairly substantial so I'll keep you updated with reviews. I know you can't wait! :)

Tote Swap

I participated in a swap not too long ago that required me to make a tote bag for an exchange, along with some goodies for inside said tote, this is what I made. I think it turned out pretty well considering it was my first real sewing project since junior high when we were supposed to make boxer shorts and my project went enough off course that the teacher came back with a pattern of a silhouette of a cat for me to make instead. Yeah, I'm not kidding here. My Mom gave up on me taking Home EC classes after that and gave the go ahead on my taking World Lit and History classes instead.

As it turns out, I did ok in the cooking department and I can bake just about anything so my mother isn't completely humiliated (although that says more about Food TV than Home EC). The sewing is going to continue to require some practice because I am hooked on these cute little skirts that I'm fairly certain are only going to be accomplished if done by hand and I definitely need to post pics of the bag I received in return, it was awesome with gorgeous shades of pinks with these terrific fabric pins. Obviously, the boxers would not have been a problem for Mary!

Red!

This is a page I made for a book project I'm participating in for Art Chix. This one was a family project, I roped my husband into cutting and folding the 50 pages. It went much faster this way! I love the Glamour Girls sheets where I got the image for this page. I'll update with the completed book when it comes in.

Wonder Woman for Appendicitis

My friend Mark asked me to make a charm for his cat sitter who is a 12 year old girl with a burst appendix going in for surgery. His direction was something with the initial "k" and maybe something with strength and courage. I like to use words or thoughts that will inspire and that I want to have close to my heart on the back so the back of this one has "strength" and "courage". I'm hoping this will inspire her and help her feel better. I'm also throwing in a bottle cap with her initial, just in case. :)

As a follow up to the health issues I haven't blogged about in a while, I saw the neurologist today who was almost less than helpful but I get to see him in a month after trying some new meds and amazingly enough, he suggested getting tips from the Internet. OY!

Anyway, the road trip plans are firming up and my friend Bo is taking the Feasting on Asphalt challenge with us so I'm definitely going to be driving everyone crazy with my incessant planning and squealing about the trip!

Finally, Vegas Update

It's been more than a little non-stop here since we got back from Vegas. We re-did our guest room, including finishing putting down the laminate floors from the studio that stopped just outside the hallway, painted, put two beds together, hung a TV, two ceiling fans (don't ask), took out all the furniture, put said furniture back, had guests, entertained them, you get the idea.

We wanted to relax and catch up on movies this weekend but were only able to see two before I was felled by a serious migraine and we were forced to retreat to the living room and darkness (the Bellagio is worth the extra money for the blackout shades and curtains alone!) - seriously! We saw the Bourne Ultimatium, which I loved, and the Simpsons Movie, so I can drag him to some chick flicks now before I succumbed completely.

Anyway, the pic of me is at the Wynn and I'm not incredibly pissed off but I was caught mid-laugh. Amazingly enough, on me the two look exactly the same! The Wynn is gorgeous and uber-upscale but also extremely whimsical so I loved it! This was the path to serious shopping. The other is the gorgeous falls off a patio that had lovely sculptures in the water that had me transfixed until Rolland moved me along for the other nice tourists waiting their turn.

I know there are people that hate the gaudiness and all the trappings of Vegas, but for me, I really love the juxtaposition of all the created beauty - even the tacky beauty - and vitality of the people and places between the surrounding stillness and peacefulness of the desert. It's loud and quiet, whichever you need or want, strangely (and for the Harry Potter fans) it's like a giant room of requirement.

Oh yeah, my necklace for the show at work got 2nd place in the show. I got a ribbon. And ice cream.

Road Trip!

Okay, I know I need to post Vegas updates and art show updates and I will. Soon. But, in the meantime you need to start watching this. We're hooked. We watched last year and wanted to set off immediately but were prevent from doing so by, well, life. But this year, we will not be stopped. The husband and I are planning a mini-Feasting on Asphalt tour for Labor Day that should be awesome! Details to come - seriously. :)

Family History in jewelry form

This piece is my jewelry entry for the art show at work. The stones are smokey quartz with soldered charms in between. I made it with the intention of it just being for show but it's pretty comfy to wear, if I ever just wanted to wear it. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I need to put it in a shadow box for the display so my only concern is the black background otherwise I'm all set and with my submissions.

Vegas Baby

It has been unbelievably hectic and crazy this last few weeks but the fast forward is this...

The Order of Phoenix was great, head out and see it now that the crowds have died down. My friend, Jen, and I saw it last Thursday after a great pasta dinner, the perfect follow up to a rough week. Transformers, also worth seeing as was Live Free Die Hard (husband's pick) if only for the mac guy.

We celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on the 30th of June and it was great, we got a new flat screen TV for the bedroom. This has prompted a few new furniture purchases to support said TV - we're out of control. But, the hubby's b-day is coming up and to celebrate, we're heading to Vegas. He likes to gamble and I can't wait to relax, pack up some books and settle in to not work and relax. I'm ready for the shopping, resting and the nothing happening that will be going on.

On the art front, we're having an art show at work and I'm submitting two pieces. One a mixed media entry and the other a jewelry entry. This is the mixed media entry. I mixed the traditional Laurie Mika style clay tiles and larger soldered "tiles". Hopefully I won't have to hide out in shame...

New Charm for a going away gift

My boss is leaving tomorrow so I made a charm as a going away gift. She decided not to relocate to Texas from Minnesota so I thought I would make something to remember us by. This being the lonestar state, I used a piece of the Texas map, added a cowgirl and a few odds 'n ends to create the final piece. The back is simply a cluster of yellow roses. The image in color is pre-soldering and the final charm is in b&w because the scanner won't scan in color. I don't know why and I'm getting really sleepy so I'll work on it tomorrow!

Tomorrow - Friday, yay!

Back to Basics for Father's Day

I'm sending out my Dad's stuff for Father's Day ... hazards of living away. But this year I decided to go with a theme and found the perfect travel bag and decided to go back to the stamp basics. It was fun playing with just stamps, ink and colored pencils again! This is what he's getting in the mail. :)

P.S. It's ok it's not the full address, it's just for effect. It's going in the box with the rest of the "themed" gift bag so it's ok. Also, please note that no pink was used in the making of this project!