In Java, Literally...

This is me before I put crap in my hair and tried my hand at the smokey eye:



















And this is me as my version of Kat Von D:

I do have arm sleeves on that make it look like I have tattoos. Matt took some full length shots that show me in the full regalia. Just something fun. We're headed to Forte now!

Snagged this quick shot of the morning sun on the last bit of Autumn leaves on a tree next to our house. This is the same tree in the picture below from when it snowed a couple days ago.

For those of you who have been following along the past two months, you've read about me creating some goals, then breaking one of them by taking on too much, and then reigning things back in a little recently.

Part of my subconscious way of dealing with the day time madness is letting my dreams take over. The number of stress dreams I've been having has gone from a couple nights of a week to a nightly occurrence, with sometimes there being more than one stress dream in a night.

One recurring stress dream I have involves tornadoes. They tend to represent stress or craziness in my life. The tornadoes come close, sometimes pass over me, pass over the house I'm hiding in, even rattling the structure, but they've never hurt me. And I always see them coming. This has been a constant for years until a dream I had at the beginning of October. Here's a brief synopsis that I wrote in my journal the day after the dream:
As I walked back toward the building, I think I notic…

When I took the dogs out this morning, I was greeted by a white lawn and kids throwing snowballs at each other on their way to school.

My mom made me a fruit trifle for my birthday cake. A little bit different than previous years where I had asked for Paula Dean's "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Cream Puddin'."

Personalized dessert at Forte!

Driving through Amish country with Matt and my parents.

Wednesday night, I made the decision to drop one of the groups I was scheduled to perform with this Fall. Warren Civic Orchestra was the unlucky ensemble.

The decision came after finding out there will be more "Peter Pan" rehearsals that would be conflicting with the Warren rehearsals.

While I've historically played longer with the Warren Civic Orchestra, we hadn't yet started rehearsing the full program for our November concert. On the flip side, I have about a month's worth of rehearsal time with "Peter Pan," which forms the bulk of my performance load (11 shows). I simply didn't want to half-arse either group. I really don't get more breathing room by doing this, but it's less music I have to learn, so that'll be a small break.

I've been trying not to have too many "questioning sanity" moments, but it's hard to ignore how the stress is affecting me. Between the things I choose to do (the music ensembles) and othe…

While I was at "Peter Pan" rehearsal last night, Matt thought he'd surprise me with a birthday cake when I got home.

I was re-writing my news scripts when he appeared in the office doorway holding a lasagna pan that looked like it had something burned inside.

"I tried! I really did! You're just a better baker," he said as he tilted the pan toward my mystified face. The craggy surface undulated with chocolate frosting and chocolate cake.

"It tastes good though! You gotta try it," he pleaded as he noted the skeptical look on my face. Dutifully, I did and it was tasty, if not a little interesting texture-wise.

So thank you to Matt for his best attempt at making me a birthday cake. The day was made a lot brighter by him and all my friend's well wishes. Thank you!

"I was having this awful nightmare that I was 32. And then I woke up and I was 23. So relieved. And then I woke up for real, and I was 32." - Celine as played by Julie Delpy in Before Sunset

The Frisky posted a great list yesterday about rules for women over the age of 30.

I liked it so much that I couldn't just share the link (see "Julia's Shared Stuff" section to right).

1. The real mistake is not making amends as soon as you realize you’ve made one.
2. A (legally obtained) sleep aid like Xanax works wonders on long distance flights.
3. Wait at least two weeks after a break up before scheduling a haircut.
4. Cut everyone a little slack; none of us is perfect.
5. Even a fabulous sale won’t make the wrong size fit any better.
6. Laughing at his jokes beats cooking skills, hand’s down.
7. The “friend zone” is where the most promising boyfriend material hangs out.
8. Black is more slimming than a grapefruit diet.
9. Recycled trends only work if you weren’t old enough to wear them the first time they were popular.
10. Gay men make the best girlfriends.
11. Vaseline Petroleum Jelly is for women what duct tape is for MacGyver.
12. When people tell you their flaws, believ…

Shenanigans at Mojos. Nick Dean and I are taking pictures because what else would two reporters do?

Hot Stenographer rocking out at Mojos. A late show on a Friday night.

Addendum:

Nick Dean posted this video from Friday night:

My friends, meet the pumpkin spice soy latte made with real pumpkin and a shot of espresso that I procured on my way back to the office after lunch from Labyrinth Press Company. Owner, Jeff, tells me he also has the ability to make pumpkin milkshakes.

When you consider this blog's name comes from a coffeehouse, you can assume I retain a smidge of coffee snobbery.

Generally, I share a disdain for chain coffee like Starbucks. But, as you can see from yesterday's post, I will venture into a store to try such delectable items that involve pumpkin. I get why Starbucks are popular. Even I found myself being mildly seduced by the mellow music playing over the sound system, the sleek furniture, the pleasant, readable font on their menu boards; and the feeling that I was in someplace you might find in a larger city rather than rural suburbia.

And to be more contradictory, I hold a special place in my heart for all things Tim Horton's. I love them even more now that our local chain carries the steeped tea. There's nothing better than being able to get a medium take-away cup of strong, black tea with real milk on a gray day.

Still though, I do like the familiarity of going into local coffeehouses and being greeted by name. …

Blasphemy. Another drink from Starbucks that I like. Pumpkin Spice Latte (made with soy milk).

Sigh.

Our finished pumpkin!

The boys work earnestly on their pumpkins.

It's pumpkin carving night at Forte. We are continuing the pumpkin theme for the day.

I got my pumpkin shake. Dear Lord is it good!

I now have all the music in hand that I will be playing between now and December 7th. There are four sets on my music stand in the picture above. Ensembles include Warren Civic Orchestra (violin 1), Jamestown Community Orchestra (violin 2), pit orchestra (violin 1) for JCC's production of Peter Pan (Director's Blog), and "The Living Christmas Tree" (violin 2).

Deep breath.

It's 19 performances total. The first one is this Saturday for the 125th Gala Anniversary of Struther's Library Theatre in Warren, PA.

Living in Jamestown, we are lucky enough to have our own municipal power plant. That means our electric rates are ridiculously cheap. There's a proposed clean coal power project that will raise our rates in future years, but our rates will still be pretty damn cheap.

This is why it kills me that our house is heated with natural gas. I dread the monthly bill from National Fuel, even during the summer time. There are plenty of things we can, and should, do to winterize our home but a quick fix was to pick up an electric fireplace. If we ran it every day for five hours a day, it would only add about $8 to our monthly electric bill, plus heat most of the first floor of our house. We're hoping that this in addition to other things I will be pressing Matt to help me with will make this winter a little more manageable pocketbook-wise.

Nordic Frost and a perfect Southern Tier IPA.

Oktoberfest at Tiny B and Lynn's house. Pretty much the same crowd as Forte but on a Sunday. So in other words, super chill with tasty food and good beer.

Looks like I missed the opportunity to blog about National Coming Out Day again. Darnit! Maybe next year.

The HRC has some articles for those considering coming out of the closet.

Me and Jade are winning. We also have a back up chorus of 80s retro music. It's amazing how many words we actually know.

Mark finishes asking us a question in a competitive game of Trivial Pursuit. Yes, that's a pumpkin on his forehead.

Happy 30th birthday Dan! It's a fun filled night in Bemus with our friends.

This is the gorgeous view I have from my office. Time to go enjoy it and the weekend.

My co-worker, Amanda, brought in Ernie to meet everyone at City Hall today. Ernie is a mini-dachshund, who is 12-weeks old. He's the kind of bundle of cuteness that tries to hide in his mom's hair when he meets new people.

Fountains Of Wayne recently uploaded a "long, lost" video for "Troubled Times" that was shot in Japan. In the blog post about this, there were other tasty bits including the fact that Dar Williams covered "Troubled Times" for her new album.

Earlier this week, I got to mix a work trip with spending time with family I don't often see. It was a serendipitous kind of thing where our office was only able to afford sending me to the statewide conference for the program I work because I could stay overnight with family.

Monday, I went from listening to doom and gloom about how Wall Street could end up affecting everything in our program to my cousin, Karen, joking about how dinner's discussion would be about how Aunt Stella survived the Depression and how we, too, could survive whatever was around the corner. When my aunt asked her to find a bigger pot for the corn on the cob, she brought up a white pot that had been used for canning,

"Well, maybe we should just keep this up here because canning will be useful when we all have to start growing our little gardens in order to have food to eat," she suggested.

It was just the kind of cynical humor I needed.

Discussions switched to technology and how blogging has be…

Wanda Sykes Bitch Slaps Some Boys


Hillary Duff Is Still Mostly Nice to Some Girls

I finally had a chance to watch my dvr-ed copy of The Holiday this weekend. Curled up under a fleece blanket, I hunkered down on the couch and commenced sighing over the gorgeousness that is Jude Law.

I'm not a fan of his ways with women in real life, but he is completely drool-worthy throughout The Holiday, especially when he dons his spectacles. And believe me, you need some decent eye-candy because half the movie is pure, romantic-comedy corn. The caramel variety.



I must admit I also thought Rufus Sewell was a bit cute, but I liked him better in Dark City. No comments from the peanut gallery (ahem, Heidi). I know who he looks like.

While catching up on some blogs and the news one Sunday several weeks ago, I caught part of a NFL commercial that was playing on the tv where Matt was watching a Bills' game.

I stuck my head out of my office next to the living room and asked, "Did I just hear that right?? Is the NFL seriously using a version of 'Everyday Is Like Sunday' by Morrissey in their promo? What the hell???"

Watch until the end for the proof:

Matt made us breakfast before we embark on a long to do list. I took care of the coffee.

At my first Halloween themed bridal shower. The bride-to-be has a black tiara on for the party.

Bring your ear-plugs to this show at Shawbucks Friday night. It's a cheap one ($5!!) and benefits WRFA-LP.

Read the article in Thursday's Post Journal: Don't Call It Rockabilly
Addendum: Friday's Article - Q&A with Cowslingers frontman Greg Miller


Poster by Chris Wysard