Winter temps have finally hit Texas and have made for some chilly photo sessions!  Luckily, my friends and clients are troopers and up for the adventure!  Last week, Lana, Jason and Sarah (Harper’s BFF) bundled up and joined me on a brief walk down one of my favorite Richardson trails.

Here’s a sneak peek from the session.  Doesn’t Sarah have the most gorgeous hazel eyes?  She is a true European beauty and such a fun baby!  Look for the full post later this week!

No need to adjust your screen, and your eyes aren’t tricking you — this really is a new blog post. As my almost two months of absence can attest, I’ve been struggling with the blog lately. The entire thought process surrounding this is long, fairly dull, and might lead to concerns for my overall mental stability. (“You spend time thinking about that, really?”)

But, lest you think I am pretending to excuse a too-long absence, here are just some of the questions I’ve been pondering: Who is the blog for? (Me? Readers? Both?) What is the blog about, other than me? Does it have a theme, a purpose? Does it need one? Are Facebook and/or Twitter working better for me to keep in touch with people? Should I be using the blog differently now that I’m using FB & Twitter more? Would I want to do more with the blog if it had a less-stupid name? And, of course, once I get those questions answered, there’s the usual, mundane stuff about finding the time to write and all that. (And all I can say about that is it’s amazing what a mere 30-minute change in work hours can do to complicate things.)

But anyway, I’m happy to report that the time I spent on my blog hiatus certainly wasn’t dull. I’m never going to manage to recap it in any comprehensive way, but here’s a quick overview. Since last you heard from me, I:

• had house guests, twice (Marlene & Chris in October, Shannon & Wendy in November);
• went to Nashville for the National Preservation Conference and, among other things, ate more barbecue than would probably be considered appropriate;
• took a trip to Mexico (Akumal, on the Riviera Maya), had a blast, and discovered that tequila doesn’t kill the H1N1 virus;
• had the swine flu and an ear infection — at the same time;
• got to see nearly my entire family (Mom, the Minnesota cousins, the Pennsylvania cousins, my uncle, and — of course — Brian, Jen, and the boys) for an early Thanksgiving/family hockey night extravaganza;
• did a bunch of planning for my trip to Egypt and made a website for the friend whose wedding I’ll be attending there;
• went to several Caps games, a Redskins game, and a couple of concerts (Andrew Bird & Bruce Springsteen), and — this is the biggie —
• got a new nephew – at least for now, one who I’m excited to be meeting for the first time this upcoming weekend.

I don’ t know if this post marks my return to regular blogging or just a drive-by visit to the blogosphere, but given that it’s a new month, I thought I’d kick it off with a post.  We’ll see where it goes from here. And by all means, if you have any opinions about the questions I raised or advice on getting my blogging mojo back, by all means, have at it in the comments.

Wow yet again…My manuscript is absolutely pouring out of me, and at 236 pages, it’s coming along nicely. I figure I’ll be somewhere around 300 by Christmas, but I’m not at all concerned with that, since the key is to have it be what it is, and not force the issue.

I’m still speechless about how fast this year has flown by. Man, I still remember the countdown to 2009 like it was just a few months ago, not an entire year…

Anyway, onward and forward while enjoying the journey. As always, stay tuned.

- Jeff Emmerson

For today’s lesson, I will explain my beliefs through song.  It’s the best way to brainwash the masses. Just ask Crazy Frog.

I don’t understand the point of veganism.

You may think I don’t care about our animal friends.  But the reverse is true.

I care deeply.

I care too much sometimes, dammit!

If cows weren’t milked they would be out of a job. And if cows were out a job, do you think the farmers would let them live in their paddocks for free?

I think not! They would need the land to grow mung beans and lentils.The cows would be sent back into the wild. To die.

Chickens.  If eating their unfertilised ovum is unfair, let’s return them to the wild as well.  Let’s see how long chooky lasts in this crazy world without wire netting to shield them from throat-ripping-hunter-rodents who roam the night, intent on murderous rampage.

Vegans are so cruel.  So mean.  Poor little moo-cows and chooky wookys, spending cold nights in the street, searching for grass in concrete cracks, picking through rubbish bins for vegetation.

Little moo-cow, offering her full, milky bosom for a place to sleep and a slab of hay.  Starving, and cold,she dreams of her past life in meadows.

‘Tis no more, cow and chooky, ’tis no more.  Those, whingeing, merciless tyrants think they know what is best for you and your body. They want you stripped you of your right to sell your bodily emissions.

Woe!

And that’s why I hate their pasty little veganistic faces (I have no fear of a violent retaliation to this. Their lack of vitamin B12, and a sense of humour, makes them a laughable opponent).

As someone who has lactated (too much information?), I can say it is a great way to earn your keep.  If it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for a moo-cow.

Disclaimer- I admit I drink soy milk.  But it’s not because I think being milked is cruel.  It’s because I am immature- and think drinking liquid from a cow’s nipple is indulging in a bit of lesbian/bestiality action.  I am also opinionated and ignorant.  This allows me to enjoy life to the full.

NZ top 20 = 10

USA top 20 = 10

Aus top 20 = 11

UK top 20 = 7

These are; Olivia, Ella, Isabella, Emma, Jessica, Hannah, Ava, Amelia, Maia, Mia, Sophia, Alyssa, Sarah, Sienna, Georgia.

Alternatives are they ever going to come back?

Alma, Augusta, Alfreda, Bertha, Bathsheba, Brenda, Candida, Edwina, Elvira, Frederica, Frieda, Glenda, Griselda, Gloria, Hilda, Leonora, Lucretia, Maida, Mona, Norma, Olga, Philomena, Prunella, Rhoda, Roberta, Sylvia, Thelma, Wilhelmina.

So I read Sarah Palin’s  Going Rogue. Its falls right in line with my obsession with those involved with presidential politics and my unwavering support of women in politics in all areas whether they share my political viewpoint or not.

And besides if there was any book in politics that was a must read this year, it was without a doubt this little book right here.

I was impatient about getting to this book. I knew most of my peers were so turned off by her they’d never read it. I knew that reviews would be as skewed towards whatever side of the love/hate spectrum people are on with this woman. And really there actually seems to be no spectrum, you either love her or you hate her and I did not want a review biased solely  because of that. And I knew that the book has been fact checked to death and ripped to shreds by liberal blogs and the media.

All of this only made it that much more of a must read for me. At first I planned to get it from the library, but all copies were reserved. Then I was going to ask one of my Secret Santas for it, but then I was in Target one day and I saw it for $17.99 and I just could not resist.

I have read a vast majority of political biographies both penned by the actual political figure or written by a political friend or foe. I find the entire political biography genre to be endlessly fascinating. In fact that is my favorite non fiction section at the library.

So I have much to compare Ms. Palin’s book to and let me say right off the bat that as far as a political biography goes, Going Rogue falls extremely short on the political and policy side.

Palin’s book really is more about her than anything else.

Now this is to be expected and it is a similar complaint that I had about Barack Obama’s the Audacity of Hope. People with very limited political careers tend to all fall into this trap, especially people who take off out of no where and are capitalizing on their popularity without much of a record. Obama and Palin both fall into that category and here their books suffer from the same ailment.

But Obama made up for this with a lot of his ideas and dreams, (political prose I called it) though all of it was overly idealistic drivel clearly intent on setting him up as a presidential candidate. The intentions of the Audacity of Hope were clear as a bell to any reader.

The intentions of Going Rogue, however are never quite certain, or if they ever never clear and this is my overall problem with the book.

There is much to enjoy here.

I found the first half the book very engrossing and fascinating. Sarah Palin as a woman was very easy to relate to. I was fascinated by her unique upbringing in Alaska and some of the stories she told about hunting trips with her father, including the infamous one where he handed her a pair of moose eyeballs fresh from a kill and was relieved to see her flinch at holding them. I felt her sorrow as she talked about her first of two miscarriages, the joy and triumph of the birth of her son (though I thought she was quite loopy to name him Track simply because it was Track season) and I also related to some of her complaints about sexist remarks and attitudes she was a victim of as a early contender in city politics.

The woman, I related to and liked enough.

Until she got to Sarah Palin, the politician. 

This is where the portrayal became muddled. Palin had no idea going into this book exactly who she wanted to sell herself as. And let’s not kid ourselves that is the point of political biographies and most of the reason I find them fascinating. Each person who sits down to write their life story that is a politician usually uses it as a chance to create their public image, for redemption or to take control of their legacy. Palin missed this opportunity all these opportunities, save the first I suppose.

She spends a fair amount of time trashing Katie Couric and a few senior people in the McCain campaign but she never pays herself the appropriate amount of reflection that would demonstrate that she understands the mistakes that she made on the trail. I wholeheartedly believe many of her assertions that she was mishandled as that can be seen plain as day. Palin was not properly prepped to engage on a national political stage and the McCain campaign is responsible for that. They should have prepped her better for the interviews and not kept her locked away the way they did and they should have listened to more of her ideas about attacking Barack Obama in my opinion.

However, Palin needs to refrain from making excuses about her poor performances in the Couric interviews and own up to them and get past them. In much of the book she portrays herself as very naive to the ways of national presidential politics as an explanation for many of the gaffes she was responsible for. Even if this is true, if she desires a future in national politics she shouldn’t present this weak, uninformed, “aww shucks!” persona that Going Rogue does to brush her embarrassing moments under the rug.

I understand that political campaigns are tough on the candidates, their families,full of spin  and constantly on damage control or accidentally creating the damage but it seems Palin never got that at all and all she can do is shrug her shoulders about how she was handled. That’s not enough.

She needs to take more responsibility.

Furthermore her attacks on the people who mishandled her are very passive aggressive. She never really goes after anyone hard core. The Katie Couric remarks border on cattiness but she attributes them to someone else. She spends all this time dishing but does it in a way where she seems to shrug her shoulders and say “o well. Those are some phony, mean people, but I kept my head up and weathered it.” You’d think Sarah Palin was just a big victim telling on all her bullies at times, and there is little “rogue” about that.

O well, at least she apologized to Hillary Clinton for calling her a whiner when Hillary remarked about how she was treated differently because of sexism. I’m a Hillary fan girl though, so I was pleased purely on that level. I hardly think it was totally sincere, more so another excuse in her arsenal.
Not to say the book isn’t an interesting read. As far as political biographies go it is short, a page turner and Palin doesn’t ever bog it down with very complex language. It reads how she talks pretty much and except for a few kind of pointless stories about her love for running, and ad nauseum mentions of Ronald Reagan including tons of quotes from him, it flows pretty well.

But at the end of the book I am not sure what Sarah Palin’s intentions were. I would have thought she wanted a run for the Presidency no matter how much she denies it, but this book doesn’t even feel like it is written by a desirous presidential candidate at all to me and I have read many and called future candidates for it several times. Going Rogue is an interesting piece because of Sarah Palin, but it doesn’t really seem to know what it wants to be besides her vision of herself, which overall isn’t that flattering as a potential political figure. And if it is simply that, then it is the least effective of all the political  biographies I read. I wouldn’t vote for her, but I certainly found myself feeling more like I could relate to her.

But perhaps that was the point. I just don’t get how that translates into a political career.

But then again, maybe that’s the most mavericky thing of all?

Well, this would be under the category of Random Writing, if I could remember what I had wanted to write. I was in math today was thinking of new poems, and I came up with this really good one, and then I was writing notes down at the time, so I wasn’t able to write it down. The first moment I got, I went to write it down, and I totally forgot what I had wanted to write… eh. It’ll come to me eventually.

A few days ago, a friend of mine got me some like body spritz or something at just some random whim, like she does sometimes. I liked the smell, and sprayed it on my hand then put it in my backpack. Today, I was pulling out my books and my back pack smelt oddly of blue freezies, the same smell of that body spritz. I dug through my backpack and found out that the bottle had leaked everywhere… and now, everywhere I go, everything I take out, and every time I go near my backpack, they all smell like blueberries. I think it’s going to make me sick soon. Me + perfume, or scents = major stomach turning.

Currently: Doing Math and breathing in way too much blueberry scent

Reading: Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen (1/4 through…)

Listening to: When Christmas Comes to Town by whoever plays the kids in Polar Express…

A família Bertuqui e amigos comemoraram o chá de bebê de Sarah. Todos aguardam anciosos a sua chegada que acontecerá em dezembro. Que Seja bem a vinda a pequena!!!

Parabéns aos pais, Weida e Alex!

All my schoolchildren woke into Roethke
like new chickens, beaking for a turn.

It’s not liking sleep better, one
whirred, but liking the dream of in-
between. Everyone’s wing elbowed
loudly. An audiovisual monkey tuned
revolving stairs. We hopped from one to
the next key while Ginsberg paid cash for

all of us, in full color.

As promised, said there would be a part two.

So at Shunji Matsuo’s showcase last week, after the ‘fashion show’ segment, we adjourned to lunch and a hands-on (or should I say hair-on) experience.

In a separate room, nicely displayed were the wigs featured in the fashion show. All guests, girls and guys alike, we invited/prodded/nudged/encouraged/persuaded to give a wig a go.

There was some apprehension and hesitation at first. Most people walked around the room, trying to discern which style to try and molesting the hair, assessing how real and soft it was to touch.

Shunji’s team and himself were on hand to advise and answer any questions.

And then slowly, people started trying on wigs. After a bit of encouragement, I decided to try one on too! (And for your benefit and my unglam-ness, here are the photos)

Here I am getting a hairnet put in place. I am quite certain my head is shaped weirdly, cos the hairnet required a bit of coaxing in order for it to stay in place and not slip off.

After two failed attempts, we found one that looked quite decent. (: Sort of reminds me a bit of my previous (shorter) hair style.

And the colour and non-blackness was strange and something I was rather unaccustomed to  (I’ve never coloured my hair)

In yet another room, there was even a ‘photobooth’ station to have a glamour shot taken in the new do. Elaborate eh?

To top it all off, there was also a makeup artist on standby to glam everyone up a bit for the shot.

All in all, it was a very fun event. Got to meet several new people. (Hello! )

Some are good and some are bad. Like seeing someone fall down the subway staircase is hilarious, but then can get awkward if they really can’t get up and appear to be injured. But I’m here to talk about the awkward situations that are just annoying. For example, my boss walks into the office today and has a band-aid on her face. Yea, thats right, straight up Nelly style, (and I don’t mean Furtado, I’m talking about hot in herreee Nelly). Like what the hell am I supposed to say when someone walks in and has a fucking band-aid on their face? I guess there are a few options — Hey, do you know that there is a band-aid on your face? OR Hey, what happened to your face? Did you cut yourself shaving? (my boss is a woman) OR the option I went with — say nothing. It’s probably the worst option because then I couldn’t look at anything else, I found myself wondering what was underneath the band-aid and did she think about how awkward and uncomfortable it would make her co-workers. I mean seriously, I don’t care what the story was, if I had to walk into work with a band-aid on my face I would make an announcement saying “yea assholes I’m wearing a face band-aid, lets get it out in the open”. Personally, I think it’s inconsiderate to put your co-workers in this kind of situation, I think she should have stayed home and let her face “heal” so I could write this post without having the minimize my screen every five seconds.

Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and as we begin the countdown of the Christmas Season, Dan Bair began by preaching on “Surprise Children.”  For me, I often forget about the other miraculous births in the Bible and simply remember the virgin birth of Jesus.  But what Dan showed us is that God has a pattern in the past that gives us hope for the future.  Jesus’ birth was miraculous and historical.  And what’s surprising is how Jesus’ birth was missed by most Jews despite their knowledge of all of the miraculous births in the Old Testament.

The virgin birth of Jesus is the only one of its kind.  But the barren births of key players in the Old Testament display the pattern of God’s plan to bring Jesus into the world.  Check this out:

Sarah gives birth to Isaac who is the son of promise.

Rebekah gives birth to Jacob who becomes the name of a people.

Rachel gives birth to Joseph who becomes the savior of his family.

Manoah’s wife gives birth to Samson who is a judge of strength.

Hannah gives birth to Samuel who is a king maker.

Elizabeth gives birth to John who is a forerunner to the king.

Mary gives birth to Jesus who is all of the above.

From http://www.reuters.com:

Happy Back To Reality Monday! There isn’t much to add about my weekend since I published the 7 Quick Takes Friday post, so there is no “Weekend Roundup” today.

During the holidays, there is obviously a lot of cooking going on. And with a large family, we usually spread out the cooking so that one person isn’t doing it all. We look at it as since we are coming to completely trash your house, let us help you do the cooking.

Well, now that I’m married, I sometimes feel that I should take on some responsibility, you know offer to bring a side dish or dessert. I don’t think I’m ready for “turkey” cooking (but it’s okay because we have man chefs in our family that like to deep fry our turkey). So, this year I asked, and they told me that they had everything covered. However, we could bring something if we wanted to, you know, like a favorite dessert. And, since Jim loves cooking, we decided to bring (read he cooked) a soapapilla cheesecake.

I was kind of glad that they didn’t need anything, It’s a lot of pressure to be bringing part of Thanksgiving Meal. And, sometimes I do dumb things, so I’m glad I get to delay being a part of the cooking for another 364 days. You see, if I was to bring something, and something went wrong, I would be made fun of for life.

One time, high school, 10th grade, I did a bad thing. I was playing soccer at my high school and we got out of practice at 4:30. I then usually had club team practice around 5:30. Well, it happens on that same night there was also a Christmas Eve dinner and service at my church and it was Pot Luck. We lived in Iowa Park, a tiny suburb outside of Wichita Falls, but it took you 20 minutes to get anywhere. So I was in a hurry to leave practice at 4:30, go home and get my stuff to change into at the Christmas Eve thing, and be back at my other practice. (This was before my days of being incredible planning lady, or else, I would have just taken it all to school with me.) Well, it worked out for my Mom because she wouldn’t have to come home to put the broccoli cheese casserole in the oven (Driving 40 minutes to do that isn’t the best use of anyone’s time) so she asked if I would do it. I said sure, but remember, I was in a hurry. I run into my house, grab everything I need, stick it in my car, and run back in to put the casserole in the oven so that when my Mom gets off, she can just take it and head to the church. I leave, go to practice, and get to the Christmas Eve dinner and everyone is kinda staring at me, making some funny jokes about cooking, and I have no idea what’s going on. I didn’t make the casserole, my Mom did. I go to the bathroom, change clothes, and then go to find my Mom. She is standing there with the most angry face- I walk up:

“Sarah! I wish you would pay attention to what you were doing. You put BAKED COOKIES back in the oven instead of the casserole. Now, I have burned cookies and cold casserole.”

Ooops! I remember thinking that casserole looked funny…

Von Claudia Grundschok

WDR5
01.12.2009
20:05 Uhr

Sleepy. Overcast. Airport. Sarah. Rain. Plants. Fresh. Grow. Weeds. Edit.

We celebrated Thanksgiving in London with some of our American friends. Since we were hosting, I decided I would make the turkey. In the past when we had it at our house Michael was in charge of cooking the turkey, but since Michael had to work the task fell to me. I was a bit nervous about cooking my first turkey, and it wasn’t easy to prepare with my 3 foot helper by my side. Sarah doesn’t grasp the concept of salmonella and contamination. But in the end, it was quite tasty (and so far no one has gotten sick). Everyone brought several dishes, we had a great spread and everything was delicious!!! We have a lot to be thankful for and even though we miss our friends and family back home we had a wonderful time celebrating with our new friends in London.

Round the table with friends

the kids table

For my birthday Michael took me to get a bike so Sarah and I can ride around town. I’ve only had it a few days but am already really enjoying it and Sarah loves riding on the back. It makes getting around a lot quicker and easier. We are looking forward to doing some leisure riding too in the parks with our friends, probably when the weather is a little nicer. Here is a picture of us getting ready to head out on our first ride.

Sarah loves wearing her helmet so much she has been wearing it everywhere, even when we are not on the bike. In this pic we are on the bus.

This upcoming week may be a little stressful, so I decided that I would write my post a day early rather then doing it late! My life lately has been very busy to say the least. Basketball is going strong and it takes up a lot of time. We have now played 5 games, and are 2-3. Not the best record but we have lots of space to improve. Our two wins were by a margin of one point, while our three loses are by over 15 points. Disappointing, especially after having a winning record in high school, where we usually were on the winning side of such lop sided games! Through all of this however, I (like Evie) have realized how much I hate losing. Hopefully, the team will pick it up this week and will pick up a couple more wins!

Other then basketball school is going well, two more weeks in the semester and then a new semester (which i am totally looking forward to!) I am ready for a little variety the same 4 classes are getting a little old!

This past weekend was GREAT! Wednesday night at 10 i took the megabus home to spend thanksgiving day at home. I got in at about 6 and was picked up by Evie. The family came over around one and we had an amazing meal! it was great to be with family again! Then Friday morning mom, matt, evie, holly and i hit the road again and drove down to chicago so i could make it back in time for practice. I then had practice and was able to spend the evening with the family. On Saturday i had a game (a loss) and then spent the  night with the family again.

Overall, life i busy but good. I get to come home December 20th for 7 days which will be great! Hope you are all doing well.

sarah

I always find good stuff over at Mudflats.