So those airplane rides (aka DFW and Paris day 1)

Spent a week in Plano visiting Mr. Red's fam and for a very fun wedding. My first comment - who knew the wife of the best man was so much work? It was so much fun hanging out getting Snoopykiss married off.

When we got home way too early/late (o'dark thirty) there was a package for Mr. Red. The almost dream job was waiting! Congrats.

Home for 36ish hours. Just enough time to run into the office for a few hours, cull the email, pick up my loaner work laptop and being doing seriously loads of laundry. The morning of my flight I had a naturpath appt where I got ear tacks to help with my whole anxiety which was so very much on high. This was my first time flying out of N. America, factor in the fact I don't speak french, nor was my translator going with me (boo!) so naturally I was nervous.

The flight over was amazingly long. Too bad I don't sleep very well. But let me tell you flying business class on Air France. My lord is that nice. We arrived Saturday morning, and by the time we'd met up with everyone arriving that day, we headed into Paris.

It's everything I thought it would be: playing touristfor a day and a half . More to come...

Book Binge

Dammit - retying this.

So with the pending long airplane rides I have coming up in the next 3 weeks I hit the bookstore. Which is silly considering Mr. Red has a whole shelf of books he thinks I'd like. He hasn't been wrong yet but I wanted one particular book we haven't been able to find: Mary Doria Russell's Children of God. I read the 1st book The Sparrow on my last trip in June and have been sort of searching for it. I also picked up A Thread of Grace because it was on the sale rack. I'm pretty sure Children of God will be consumed this weekend. Yeah I don't read I consume. I'm pretty impressed I've put it down despite the fact I'm loving it. I"m one of those readers who tends to do nothing else but read when I find a good book.

I also picked up two other books: Martin Millar's The Good Fairies of New York and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

I'm hopeful these 4 books can keep me entertained on the 5+ hour flight DFW and back, then the following 9+ hour flight to Paris and back.

A party and well that's odd

We had a party for a friend of ours, combined it for her, and inviting a mess of her friends, our friends, Mr. Reds and coworkers. It was no where near the size we used to have in Portland but it was nice to finally be social hosts again.

Best part is we have a ton of left overs :).


Only thing I've discovered is my new orthotics, made my middle toes (right foot) be numb/dull. This was after standing for hours upon hours. I thought it was due to the pad pushing up in the toe box, but I thought I fixed that on friday. Bad thing is that even after sleeping on it my toe still feels wonky. Going to change shoes then go back into the podiatrist. Ain't life grand.

One of those moments

One of the things I remember vividly about my childhood is my grandfather pulling jokes on me. To this day the plural of sheep is sheps. I was not a gullible child but there was and still is a twinkle in his eye that ends up getting me.

He also loved airplanes. I can remember sitting with him and flipping thru airplanes books with him.

This weekend we went to the McCord Airshow. I finally got to see the Thunderbirds. As well as seeing a F-18 break the sound barrier. Like I saw it happen, shock wave and everything. I can't express how cool it was.

I've known for a while that the love of airplanes my grandfather has wore off on me. But sitting under the tail of a refueling tanker Mr. Red makes some smart crack and I just stopped looked at him and said - "Stop that - you're turning into my grandfather!" The twinkle in his eye makes me cautious. But man I love him.

Reason #36 why cleaning is not my idea of fun

So in getting ready for our shin-dig at the end of July - we're tackling the remaining boxes. It's not bad actually - but we're wanting to attempt to not leave all the cleaning/prep until the week before. Wish us luck.

Anyway while putting books away I backed into a corner then rediscovered why dust bunnies (ehem cat hair), wood floor and wearing socks is a bad idea. Thankfully I managed to catch myself before I had a really ugly (ie funny) but my arm/shoulder and right hip are tweaked from catching myself.

Good thing I went to the chiropractor earlier today. Go me.

Well now I'm dumbfounded

The bike short/skirt combination I reordered arrived today. See based on my measurements I should be between two sizes. I'd originally ordered the larger because well that's what you do. It was huge. Reordered the smaller and it was wasn't as tight as it needed to be. Actually for anything but biking gear I'd say it fit perfectly, well except the skirt still had 2-3" of play in it, but the bike shorts part weren't tight but fit.

So we're going a size down. Again.

Discovering Art

I don't really remember the moment when I became aware of ART around me. It wasn't really until about 5-6 years ago that the collections of friends I'd gathered started opening my eyes to the world around me. How ART is all around me in everything. How it's fleeting and dependent of factors that it can't quite control. How now I'm settling in to what suits my eye, my ears and sensations.

Which got me thinking this weekend in many ways my family didn't do ART. Museums weren't our thing. Our walls were covered with run of the mill mass produced items, flanked by pictures of the family. Nothing with craft. Nothing with weight. Nothing that would catch the light and make you hold your breath by the beauty of it. The only exception were my aunt's paintings in my grandmothers house.

We found a home for the stained glass Mr Red's family gave us for our wedding. It's a stain glass representation of the artwork from our invitation. It's been in storage since we moved out of the Portland house. And now it's sitting in the kitchen window catching the afternoon sun. I see it and it transports me to the moments that bound Mr. Red and I. Is it ART - it's more craft, but it's beautiful and amazing.

I'm also missing the prints and what not we've collected over the years. Some of them are 1950's dress pattern advertisements that amuse me for there contradiction to who I am. There is the bunny-wave print we have rolled up waiting to frame. Of course my new favorite way to ART shop is etsy. I'm adding things to my favorite list so I can go back and add to our collection.

The best part of all of this is months ago I'd found a painting that was simply perfect for us but it sold out before I'd confirmed with Mr. Red. Then the artist went on holiday. Yesterday I followed up and found out she was back and producing. Instead of a 4" X 8" single panel she'd progressed in to compilation of two 4" by 8" panels, that she'd customize for us. I'm so excited as its the perfect birthday (yes late) gift for Mr. Red. Best part - no framing required.

I now understand even more the grip ART can have on you. How once bitten it seeps into you. How personal ART is to the artist and to the owner. How finding just the right thing for someone can take a lifetime, a moment or nothing.