Movin' Along.

This Sketches blog has been a nice start. I've enjoyed blogging here, but I'm moving over to WordPress because, well, I like it better. Go on, update your bookmarks and come on over to my new home and see what you think.

Happy Earth Day

Well, it's a day late to wish you a Happy and Peaceful Earth Day, but so it goes. In honor of the occasion I painted (actually, tried to paint) my nails a trendy green. It actually just looks like I got into a catfight with The Little Mermaid and wound up with her scales on my fingernails, but what can you do. I'm investigating the nail blogs to find an alternative.

Also on an Earth Day vibe, seeing this recycling gone wrong on The Fail Blog made me recall that I actually had a tie dyed version of one of these about 10 years ago. The current me pretty much hates the 10 years ago me, the men's underwear bra may be one good reason why. I never have had tons of self confidence. But on the other side of that, it takes courage to wear mens' briefs on your tas.

Also, I'm working on getting my blogging shit together. One of my birthday goals for the year was to maintain a Flickr account, which four months in is clearly not working. If only I hadn't broken my digital camera it would be better. Months ago I registered a couple of blogs at Word Press to fuel my desire to be a better blogger. I'm not confident that my strategies will yield any tangible result. Once again, oh well.

Something to be happy about: at least it's Wednesday! I'm gettin' on towards the weekend and you know I loves me some weekend.

The funniest thing about swimsuit shopping

Today I had the day off after our long art festival at work this weekend. For me this marks the beginning of the end of spring, so looking forward to summer I decided to shop for a swimsuit and new flip flops to prep for the upcoming beach season.

I consider myself far from plus-sized but no longer in my middle school tiny days, so this can be a challenge. I weathered okay, though, and had a pretty good time. I wound up with a suit from Ann Taylor Loft that I can't seem to find online.

The best part of this shopping trip was the Raisins Swimwear by Quicksilver. These suits are far from appropriate for me, but I dig the irony. Maybe they didn't check out that episode of South Park.

Five little things.

Jes over at Aloe-ha! tagged me in this five things meme. I'm game... Here goes.

1. Ja snakker litt Norsk. I studied Norwegian to meet my foreign language requirement in college but can't really remember any of it. We're not all wired for foreign language learning like some people I know.

2. Speaking of foreign language, I'm not all that excited (gasp!) about foreign travel. I know that some of you will cringe reading it, but it's oh so true. And just when I was getting comfortable with the idea of my upcoming Africa trip next year I read something like this.

3. I secretly wish I were a dancer. I love having a background in music and working in the visual arts, but I think dance is amazing. Plus those people are cut. And that would mean I had some sort of athletic ability.

4. I am an obsessive reader. Pete tells me he thinks I get all my information by reading, and it seems true. I read the blogs, the news, and the church bulletin to follow along. And I also like books, but I'm not good at picking them out. Last weekend I read Sideways and it was great. Just a whole day of reading. Mmmmm.

5. I miss Iowa, especially Decorah. It's such a great little place and nice little state. I don't know that we'll ever live there again (there are only a handful of places that could even potentially be in the running given the job market we'll seek) but I love it all the same. Except they don't have the beach and it snows. That's why my favorite quote is "Folks are about as happy as they make up their mind to be." Be happy with where you are, my friends.

All right out there, let's learn about you. Emily and Sarah, are you guys up for it?

Recently Overheard

Lesbian church choir member, after coughing and making an error in rehearsal: "Sorry. Hairball."

Unaware choir director: "Well than you shouldn't eat so much cat."

Southern Living.

Every once in a while, I seem to go on and on about now I enjoy living in the South. You know, the charm and hospitality, the warm weather, fried chicken and the bourbon. There's more to it than that, but you get the idea.

I had another day where I valued my Midwesterner-turned-Southern-charmer personality. I was standing in a group of people, many native Southerners, who complained about a group of people from "Up North." It seemed as though they didn't realize their was a Yankee among them.

Now, I'm not about to whistle Dixie and fly the confederate flag but I was astonished that I was passable. Unbelievable, y'all. Guess I'd better go mash the mint for my julep.

Sigh. Government.

Several years ago I worked for our state's art agency, the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs. This year the legislature promises to dramatically cut allocations to the Division's grant programs. There are lots of agencies that will be feeling the cuts. Yikes. This irks me, of course.

But at least the Bring Your Guns to Work Bill passed the House. Boy, that makes me feel at ease.

So I wrote my dad, one of my favorite political confidants to complain. He wrote back "Remember we have Steve King as our congressman so we know what awful government can really mean."

Point well taken, Dad.

Now we're cooking with gas.

Utility crisis averted: it was just a burned out pilot light. An old rental stove = prone to problems. You should have seen the disgusting mess underneath the stove top when the utility guy opened it up to check the pilot lights. Scary. It was so gross I couldn't even bring myself to address it. Maybe one of these days.