February 19, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 2 Comments

Three Things Thursday: February 19, 2015

For Nerd in the Brain’s Three Things Thursday, I’d like to share a few moments from my week for which I’m both happy and grateful.

A lovely and relaxing Valentine’s Day at home with my husband, “far from the madding crowd” at the restaurant where I work.

There was a cozy fire, pretty flowers, a nice bottle or two of wine and very importantly:

Lasagna!

A beautiful, but very crisp Atlanta night. So far, we’ve avoided any snow and ice, for which I’m actually grateful, since I have too many events and too much work this week to afford a city shutdown. ::sigh:: It’s sad, truly, when you can’t get excited about missing work for a snow day.

And the biggest chunk of happy to share with you: our awesome foster dog, Beau! He’s the sweetest baby, but has had some rough handling in his two years before ALR rescued him a from a shelter. We’ll be working with a dog therapist and trainer to hopefully help him overcome some of his socialization issues and be happy and content living with us. He’s a special guy and we’re already totally in love with him.

It’s been a very nice week (work and arctic weather aside) and I’m looking forward to a wonderful weekend. Thank you again, Nerd in the Brain, for the opportunity to remember and share my gratitude!

February 18, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 4 Comments

Share Your World – 2015 Week #7

I’m really enjoying Cee’s Weekly Blogging Challenges.

Tuesday’s challenge, “Share Your World” asks you to answer a few diverse questions; sharing a little about yourself and your thoughts with your readers.

Is the paper money in your possession right now organized sequentially according to denomination and with the bills right side up and facing the same way?

No, to be honest, I have probably have a single dollar or a fiver wrinkled up at the bottom of my wallet. I’m all ATM now and never carry cash. This marks the vast gulf between now and my years as a bartender, when it was all about cash and when all my money had to be faced, sequential, crisp and organized (or I had a tiny meltdown.)

What is your favorite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal or character in a movie)

Even though I have two very amazing kitties that I love with all my heart, I do love dogs too and volunteer for a rescue so I get a chance to help and hang out with some pups.

I grew up with labs, shepherds and dobermans, but I would have to say that my current favorite type of dog is a foster dog, any foster dog, because they desperately need love, support and shelter while they find their forever homes.

I am very happy to announce that we are the proud foster parents of a young gentleman named Beau who we hope will become a permanent member of our family. He’s a black lab, around two years old.

Beau with his ducky.

He’s pretty awesome.

If money was not an issue, would you go on a cruise? If so where would you go?

Years ago, I worked for a travel agency and sold cruises, but never went on one, even though I had several opportunities. Should I go now, I think I would like to visit somewhere classically exotic in the Mediterranean – Amalfi, Greece, the Côte d’Azur. Of course, I wouldn’t say no to French Polynesia: Bora Bora, Tahiti, Moorea. Just not in typhoon season.

Amalfi Coast, Italy
image source: charmingasiatours.com

Would you dare to sleep in haunted house overnight?

I lived in a haunted townhouse in Old Town Arlington, Virginia for a few months. I was terrified to even be in the house and totally thrilled to get out of it. Weird stuff happened. Just saying.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that our sweet foster pup has come to live with us. Getting up in the sub-artic air at the crack of crap each morning for bathroom runs has been a little challenging, but it’s worth it.

I’m looking forward this week to seeing a really old and dear friend, Colleen, who will be visiting from California with her husband, Gary.

Me, Heidi and Colleen on one of her last visits!

Me, friend Heidi and Colleen on one of her last visits!

Thanks, Cee for the challenge and happy Wednesday to everyone!

February 16, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 4 Comments

Oh, Go Fly a Kite! (Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge)

Scrambling a little this week to get my entry into Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, which comes from the song, “Let’s Go Fly a Kite!”

Every spring we vacation in Rosemary Beach, Florida with the whole family. Racing around on the beach, dragging a kite through the sky is a big part of our fun!

With tuppence for paper and strings, You can have your own set of wings,

With your feet on the ground, You’re a bird in a flight, With your fist holding tight, To the string of your kite

Oh, oh, oh! Let’s go fly a kite, Up to the highest height!

Flying Duo Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring,

Up through the atmosphere, Up where the air is clear, Oh, let’s go fly a kite!

February 15, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 10 Comments

Toast Masters

Last Sunday would have been my father-in-law’s Dave’s 81st birthday. He was a wickedly funny, mischievous, brilliant, vibrant, joyous, jovial gentleman and his loss has left a huge hole in our lives.

While it can’t make up for him not being here with us, each year we’ve tried to come up with a special way to celebrate his day and his memory.

For this February, we decided on a ~~nationwide~~ international coffee (or beverage of your choice) toast with friends and family.

David and I were in Augusta, visiting his mom, Linda, so we started the morning with our java tribute to Dave with special mugs depicting the logo from one of his favorite submarines, the Haddock. We all have official Bechtel mugs from the company where he worked, but we forgot to bring them, so we printed out submarine logos and taped them to plain white mugs.

Over in Birmingham, my sister, her husband and my niece Livvy, made a toast with slushies!

Over in Chelsea, my parents chimed in with a jug of vino!

In California, my husband’s sister, Debbie and her husband Joe raised a coffee salute:

along with Debbie’s son (Dave’s grandson) Joey and his wife Jessica!

And across the pond in England, Debbie’s daughter Alison hoisted a cuppa!

Sister-cousin Patti proffered the coff in Huntsville, Alabama.

And in Michigan, sister-cousin Christa re-branded Dave’s favorite beverage, in a toast that was a tonic to her feelings.

So here’s to Dave: best husband, Dad, G’Pa, uncle, father-in-law and friend: We miss you but you are always part of us. And there is no whining. We promise.

We love you.

Salute!

February 8, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 16 Comments

Scaled Back

This week’s WordPress photo challenge is all about scale.

This week, share an image that highlights a size relationship — make us pause and take a second look to understand the scale of the elements in your photo.

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Cleaning the windows: 72 floors up. The building so close behind them is actually a block down and across the street.

This is the first time I’ve actually seen them out there cleaning – I guess normally they come earlier in the morning.

While I love heights, have taken classes in aerial silks and enjoy rock climbing, dangling from a “string” 723 feet above the city is a bit too much for me.

“I’m not going to ride on a magic carpet!” he hissed. “I’m afraid of grounds.”

“You mean heights,” said Conina. “And stop being silly.”

“I know what I mean! It’s the grounds that kill you!”

— (Terry Pratchett, Sourcery)

February 7, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 13 Comments

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: My Favorite Things, Verse 3

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
Silver white winters that melt into springs,
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this Week is particularly challenging, since I live in Atlanta and there’s not a lot going on in the way of silver white winters.

However, we did have a couple of freaky snow storms last year (known as Snow-pocalypse and Snow Jam 2014), so I can at least give you an interpretation:

Views of the snow storm from my eyrie. It was quite lovely, until the reality kicked in that I was trapped there overnight.

A southern “blizzard.” Normally we just have the Dairy Queen kind.

And yes, it was one of my favorite things, for about 5 minutes, warmly bundled and clutching a hot toddy.

Snowflakes were doing something to my nose and eyelashes. Please note the designer gloves. I felt like a heel.

And since it’s Atlanta, where the weather changes its clothes swifter than a runway model:

It all melted into spring in about 48 hours. The next week it was 80 degrees. Seriously.

February 6, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 1 Comment

Six Things Thursday: February 5, 2015

I’ve got a ton of happy moments to be grateful for and share in Nerd in the Brain’s Three Things Thursday this week. I’ll throw in a few extra to (hopefully) make up for being MIA last week.

Basically, two very fun weekends! Both wildly different but lots of wonderful memories.

Not a lot of time to blog. (Working on this.)

Reunited with my very dear friends, Sharona and Mike!

Friday the 23rd, we enjoyed some talented local art at my friend Denise’ opening at the Movement Gallery, and afterwards, visited Sharona and Michael, friends from my “glamorous” bartending past, running the bar at the quite excellent restaurant, Valenza. (Food and drinks were stellar!)

Gracie: a lot of cat to love. And brush.

Saturday, we met up with my parents, who were in town visiting with some good friends of theirs in North Georgia. Besides great company and a wonderful dinner, we were able to hang out with their really fabulous cat, Gracie, who used her advanced powers of feline mind control to bend me to her will.

On Sunday, we helped out with Atlanta Lab Rescue’s Adoption Day. One of my very favorites, the incredibly precious and beautiful Jake, found his forever home with a really sweet young couple. Yay, Jake! That’s a whole bunch of happy right there.

{Insert a manic work week}

Continuing the awesome on Friday the 31st, we gathered at the mountain house for our yearly celebration of Burn’s Supper.

Patti, my sister-cousin

This is David’s and my fifth year to host (our slightly warped version of) the traditional Scottish dinner and it gets bigger (and a little rowdier) each year.

Patti, my little Mommy and me. Oh, and a photo bomb from Dana.

We had a happily overflowing house with my parents, their friends Mike and Derenda (Gracie-the-cat’s folks), my sister-cousin Patti and her friend David, good friends, Heidi, Hil and Dana, and our bagpiper friend, Sam and his wife, for a soul-restoring weekend of beyond stellar views, company, food, wine and festivity.

The motley “MacCrew.”

So, there you have it! My 6 things Thursday, or 3 Things Thursday², as it were. Thank you, Nerd in the Brain, for the chance to remember (and share) my big ol’ bunch of happy!

(Soon to come, Tales from Burn’s Supper. Many, many stories in itself.)

January 27, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 3 Comments

This Land Is Your Land: Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

This week, Cee brings her Fun Foto Challenge to an American classic, a song I remember as a wildly off-tune warble from my grade school assembly days: This Land Was Made for You and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
 I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me. 
I’ve roamed and rambled
and I followed my footsteps,  
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;  
And all around me a voice was sounding:  This land was made for you and me.

The anthem somehow survived the crappy crooning of my childhood to invoke some really lovely imagery for me as an adult. A few random photos from my stash, representing my favorites:

Ribbons of highway

An endless skyway

 A golden valley

Footsteps and sparkling sands

January 22, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 3 Comments

Three Things Thursday: January 22, 2015

My response this week to Nerd in the Brain’s “Three Things Thursday” Challenge:

Share three things from the previous week that made you smile or laugh or appreciate the awesome of your life.

I still can’t believe it! Last week I received this notification from WordPress.

My 100th post! It’s only taken me four years of truly apathetic blogging to get here.

Other snip-lets of the happy:

I have to agree with Nerd in the Brain on this one. I own an SUV, so this sight brought tears of joy to my eyes:

Holy, moly. Really, really cheap gas at the Wally World in Augusta.

And Monday’s amazing sunset after last week’s gloomy drizzle.

and Wednesday’s, as well!

January 20, 2015 by kimicalreaction - 8 Comments

My Favorite Things Verse Two: Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

I had so much fun participating in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge last week, that I couldn’t wait for this Tuesday’s assignment: find photo inspiration in the second verse of the song, “My Favorite Things,” from the Sound of Music.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things.

I was feelin’ artsy and I had a giant stockpile of props and inspiration a mile down the street, so I decided to do a “creative” interpretation, à la the Wally World way.