Wedding Bell Blues (Oh wait, adjust that white balance)

Well, today was my cousin's wedding. Kind of hard to believe she's married. I figured she'd be a free-spirit, but I guess she settled down! So now Pierce and I are the only single cousins left. Pierce will probably get married someday. I guess weddings are nice, if you like that sort of thing. I personally think they're too flowery and sentimental.

Speaking of flowery, Mom tried to take some photos of the flowers (and dresses), but the purples came out blue each time...

During some song (in the wedding ceremony), Andre (the bride) and her twin, Renee, looked at each other and burst into tears. Hearing loud sobbing from the front row, I turned to see their mother boo-hooing too. Then, to my right, sat my mother, Marguerite, bawling her eyes out. I couldn't help myself. With all this emotion floating around, I broke into fits of laughter. Unrestrained, irreverent laughter. I laughed right through the prayer. I don't belong at fancy-schmancy gushy mushy emotion-riddled events such as these.

I did my duty. I chatted with the groom's brother (who bears a striking resemblance to Steven Weber), I made people sign the guestbook, I handed out programs, I blew the bubbles at the bride and groom, and I toasted Andre and Scott with a glass of champagne at the reception. But I didn't dance.

This is not to say that I didn't want to dance--I did. But Mom wanted to leave the party at 8:30 just as the party was getting started. See, the dinner took too long. Had it been a cake-and-punch affair, we could have gotten some quality dancing time in. But this was like a three or four course meal (I'd know which it was if I knew the definition of a course) and it was strung out over a long period of time. Of course, I'm an idiot and didn't know which of my three freaking forks to use for what. I probably made a real fool of myself because I'd never had such a fancy meal before. I'm not comfortable with such high-class stuff.

Anyway, they called the wedding party out for a dance, but I wasn't sure if that included me or not. I was billed as a member of the wedding party in the programs, and I was wearing a coursage, which technically associated me with the wedding party, but I hadn't been to the rehearsal and I wasn't really "in" the wedding. So I sat back. I considered dancing with Pierce, since he just looked lost and alone, but being my first cousin (and basically my twin in age), I figured it would be weird for both parties invovled, so I stayed back. I considered shelling out $2 for the dollar dance and dancing with both Andre and Scott, but that's about the time Mom decided we needed to go. It was a real bummer. I think she felt bad about leaving so early, but she didn't know what time it was. It was much darker in the reception hall than it was outside. And she didn't have a watch. I really wish we could have stayed a little longer. I at least wanted to listen to some music, if nothing else.

It was nice to meet Scott's family, and it was cool to see a couple of my former college instructors there, but the icing on the cake was that I didn't catch the bouquet. Like I say, those things aren't for me.

Addicted to Academia

It just occurred to me today that I am addicted to academia. I haven't been out of school a whole year yet, and still I can't seem to stay away from my community college or my university. In fact, I went to the university today to meet with a former professor and visit the library, and this evening, I'm heading to the community college to take, yes, a noncredit course.

This is not the only noncredit course I'm enrolled in. No sir! This is the final meeting of a three-week photography course, but I'm also enrolled in an online writing course, and a one-day course in something elusive that appears to be of a scrapbooking nature. It's summer and I've enrolled in three courses? That's practically a full load (in grad school terms, that is a full load).

But wait, there's more!

As you all know, I'm currently reading Little Dorrit with none other than two of my former professors. I'm also reading Ulysses as recommended by one of the profs, and I just checked out A Clockwork Orange and Catch-22. I've been reading all kinds of literature this summer and trying to get as many MLA Top 100 novels under my belt as possible. And I've been writing. Creative writing, that is.

If I start writing academic papers, then I'll know I have it bad.

True Colours Thursday--What a Maroon!

Okay, so I had to rip off Bugs Bunny there. At least I gave him credit. Seriously though, I'm still plugging away at Little Dorrit (which looks much more maroon-y in real life). You know, for having a name like "Little" Dorrit, it's a rather long book ;)

True Colours Thursday is hosted by friend Blue.

Fraidy Cat...

Peyser, our goldish-colored cat, is a big wimp. He's pretty much scared of everything. Especially the vacuum cleaner. Now, this fact alone isn't very surprising, but his response to my vacuuming is more bizarre than our other two cats' responses. Snugs just sits quietly in a chair and ignores it; Abby runs into the kitchen and ignores it; Peyser finds a cubby-hole and keeps it under constant surveillance--usually.

Since Peyser is usually the cause of the vacuuming (he's been shedding a lot due to the hot weather), I've been having to vacuum more frequently, which in turn, scares the crap out of him more frequently.

Peyser has taken to hanging out in the bathroom for some reason. Probably because it's the coolest room of the house, and also, he seems to be partial to napping on the soft toilet seat. While vacuuming today, I thought it might be a good idea to sweep up the furballs he's created in the bathroom, as well (not realizing that he was napping on the toilet). We have a small bathroom, and the toilet is hidden by the door which opens inward only as far as the toilet will allow. So I came in, sweeping up the various hairballs while still standing in the hall. When I made my way into the bathroom to continue sweeping around the toilet, I saw Peyser, frozen on the toilet seat with large eyes. I tried to tell him it was okay and that I was just cleaning, but he wasn't having any of it. In fact, he jumped into the bathtub, and from the safety of this new post, proceeded to hiss at the vacuum cleaner. Twice. Finally, I decided that the bathroom floor was just going to have to be good enough for the time being, because I really didn't want to scare him any more than necessary. So I took the vacuum back into the hall so I could finish up later. As soon as I did, Peyser rocketed out of the bathroom, knocking down anything that got in his path (almost including me, but I regained my balance).

If only a pet company made some sort of silent pet-friendly vacuum to help the shedding problem... Or maybe I should just brush him more ;)

Monochrome Maniacs: Yarn

For more monomania, visit Aileni

Juneteenth

Today being June 19th, is Juneteenth. Were I not busy reading Little Dorrit and Ulysses, I'd have checked out the Ralph Ellison novel of the same name to start today.

Happy Birthday, Sir Paul!

Just wanted to wish Paul McCartney a happy birthday.

True Colours Thursday--Black and Tan

My grandma found a little nest of baby rabbits the other day.


This little guy was watching me pretty intensely.

True Colours Thursday is hosted by friend Blue.

Happy Bloomsday... I guess?

One of my former professors informed me that today is Bloomsday. This is associated with James Joyce's Ulysses, which I'm also reading. Basically, I'm reading Little Dorrit through the day, and Ulysses at night. The modernist structure of Ulysses might explain the strange dreams I've been having lately. By the way, Ulysses is this former professor's favorite book, I think. Enjoy your Bloomsday!

Monochrome Maniacs: Catching Up

I'm reading Little Dorrit by Dickens. I liked the texture of the book cover, so I started playing around with angle more.


This is a row of empty tables at an Italian restaurant where I was dining one day.

Click here for more monomania, courtesy of Aileni.

True Colours Thursday--Late Again!

Yes, friends and neighbors, I'm quite far behind on all my memes and blogging in general, but I'm trying to make it up to ya'll today.

These are my purples from last week.


I won the above lotion/body wash set from my cousin's bridal shower during a game of Bingo.


These also came from the shower. Each lady was given a small box with purple Jordan almonds.


And now for ivory. I used Peyser (in the foreground) for gold one week, and now I'm using his twin sister, Abby, for ivory. She's a little more backward and shy when it comes to being photographed. Also, the wallpaper in the background is a bit of an ivory colour.

True Colours Thursday is hosted by friend Blue.

Brief Book Update

I started reading Little Dorrit on Monday evening. I had to read it through Project Gutenberg until I could borrow a copy from the library (which I did on Tuesday). Anyway, I'm in chapter three now, and completely confused about who's who (ah, Dickens and his love of introducing new characters). I remember reading Bleak House in the fall of 2005, and not knowing who was who and what was really going on until about 3/4 through the book. Hopefully I can figure out Little Dorrit earlier than that!

Mantrap, etc.

Whew! This is looking like it's gonna be a busy month! I have a thesis defense to attend this week, possibly going to visit one of my friends this weekend, starting a noncredit college course this week, have my cousin's rehearsal dinner and wedding later this month, and just today, committed to reading Little Dorrit.

Among these things, I'm going to somehow try to squeeze a few hours in at my job, continue working on short stories (and hopefully the novella) and work on my various and sundry craft projects.

Following up on Mantrap, I'm enjoying it. I'm finding that I rather enjoy Sinclair Lewis' style. I'm kind of a sucker for the 1920s American lit (which probably seems odd, considering I'm planning to read an English novel from the 1800s next). I'm less than 20 pages from finishing Mantrap, so I hope to finish it tonight.

In other news, I visited Barnes and Noble again today. Didn't buy anything, but I saw a ton of cool books! I did purchase a new crochet book at a crafts store. More projects on the way :) Also, since I went with my mother and grandmother, we ate out. We decided to share this dessert called "Bananas Foster," which is sort of starting to sound familiar now, but I don't think I'd ever heard of it before. Anyway, the thing was covered in this really delectable caramel-rum sauce, which my grandma (who could easily have been a spokeswoman for the WCTU had she been old enough) was afraid to eat. She said she'd never had any alcohol in all her life. My mom winked at me and said, "well, then maybe it's time you tried some." I told Grandma that it was probably made with rum extract instead of the real stuff. Mom and I both reassured her that even if it were made with real rum it wouldn't be enough to do anything to her and that we weren't scared of it. Grandma kind of rared up at that one and protested, "Well, I'm not scared of it either."

I can't believe my mother was trying to corrupt hers with desserts.

True Colours Thursday--Man oh "Man" (Cobalt)

Sorry this is so cropped, but the game was sitting on top of some media storage at just about the right height, so I hated to move it.


I have no idea what this book is about, but I checked it out of the library, along with three others. I hope to start it soon!

True Colours Thursday is hosted by friend Blue.

Ten Things I've Never Bought...

BJ has tagged me for a meme. Ten Things I've Never Bought. Why seems to be irrelevant.

1) A house
2) A steak
3) Real estate (land, etc.)
4) A pet
5) A DSLR
6) A boat
7) A hockey mask
8) Lawn furniture
9) Mascara
10) Anything from Abercrombie and Fitch

I tried to make this as random/stream of consciouness as possible, hoping for a diverse combination of things.

Monochrome Maniacs--Wallpaper

It's not a terribly exciting subject, wallpaper, but I wanted to play around a little with angle, so this is what I came up with. I kind of imagined it as spotlights on a stage curtain.



For more monomania, check out Aileni's Monochrome Maniacs

True Colours Thursday Turquoise with A Touch of Grey

I know, I know. I skipped out last week. Again. But this is graduation time, and mother's and father's days, along with the pre-wedding parties for my cousin's wedding (do I have enough excuses?) Anyway, I'm making up for it this week with this week's as well as last week's colours:


Just one of six rocks I bought at a gem show last year.


Another rock, this one making up the gravel of our driveway.

True Colours Thursday was created and is hosted by friend Blue.

Monochrome Monday Cherry x 2!

I missed last week again, so I'm making up for it today. Two pictures from our cherry trees. The cherries still aren't ripe, but they're getting a little pink, so they'll be ready before we know it!




For more monomania, check out Aileni's Monochrome Maniacs

In My Neck of the Woods...

Whew, what a busy weekend! On Thursday, I met up with some of my former classmates and professors from grad school. I should mention, this was after I'd spent a couple of hours with two of my friends who just graduated with bachelors degrees, and after going to work for a bit. Friday, I did the usual lunch with Grandma and Mom thing, and afterwards I worked a little. Saturday was graduation, so that was pretty much a day-long affair. Sunday was Mother's Day, and also a graduation party for one of the graduates. Suddenly, I see that it's Monday. In just under two weeks I'll have a bridal shower to attend for my cousin, and I just received the wedding invitation today. So much stuff going on that I feel the need to stop and catch my breath just typing!

In other news, I've been taking this "sabbatical" time to catch up on books, movies, etc. that I didn't have the time for during school. I just recently finished Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, then turned around and polished off Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's in less than 24 hours. Now I'm reading The Silence of the Lambs--I'm half done with it, and trying to decide what to check out next.

Well, I must sign off for now, as I'm preparing to fix a waffle and a veggie sausage patty for supper. I know, I'm odd eating breakfast foods of an evening, but heck, that's what sounded good.

True Colours Thursday: Hello, Cerise

Sorry, I just had to make a bad Silence of the Lambs joke, since I'm currently reading the novel. Anyway, I stepped outside today in this lovely slightly-overcast photography day, and here's what I found:


A new flower Mom bought recently. Sometime when it stops raining long enough to work outside, this will be potted with some other flowers and will live on our porch.


These are some buds from our cherry bushes. The little green things are cherries that aren't ripe yet.

I certainly hope this is cerise, because, not being familiar with these fancy schmancy terms, I just took my best guess!

True Colours Thursday is hosted by friend Blue.