Something small to appease the masses.

Sorry to not give more now. I've been busy! Here are pictures, though: one of my fun Athens friends, and another of my Macon crowd (including its newest and most handsome addition, of course. Gag with the cheese, I know.). I think they're all just fabulous and lovely. And hurrah! We went and ate Indian food in Macon on my birthday! Whoever said Maconites aren't cool just hadn't met the right ones yet. Yes, I'm including myself in that vague "whoever"...

Thanks, Bryan, for making me sad.

I just read/viewed Bryan's post on the trip that he took with Val, Oren, and Thomas to Tallulah Gorge. All of a sudden I'm feeling a deep sense of homesickness for my Athens days with my Mellow Mushroom friends.

I'll come up there soon. I need to come up there soon, for a too-long-delayed rejuvenation that only Athens can bring. Any weekends that are particularly bad for those of you still there?

Update

Tidbits of my life of late:

• Tuesday, June 6. School's out for the summer. Hurray!
• Wednesday June 7 - Yesterday, June 13. Cal and I hunt for houses in Macon the entire week, barring my Jury Duty stint on Monday. Did I get picked for that Jury Duty? Of course. One of 12 out of 100 people. Just my luck. Sat and listened to the tale of a lady and her daughter who swore up and down that a car accident over 2 years ago injured their necks and lower backs and that they should be compensated. We decided that it was all a big scam and pretty much awarded them nothing. All very interesting, actually, to watch the proceedings of the judicial system. Interesting for one day, that is. Glad I didn't have to be there any longer.
• Wednesday, June 14. Happy Birthday to me!! I head to Thomasville, then catch a ride with Cal to Florida to help him pack up his house. He's moving Friday. He has very few boxes. I, the Presbyterian, am recruited by Cal, the Baptist, to enter the entire span of liquor stores in the Fort Walton Beach area. Works well, actually, as most of the liquor store managers are skanky, old men, much more willing to bestow their precious boxes upon a young (ahem, 28 IS still young) female than a not-so-young (29 is getting on up there) male. Needless to say, we now have plenty of boxes. Yes sir!
• Tomorrow will consist of box-packing, and Friday will be filled with loading up the Uhaul truck and driving back to Thomasville.

All in all, a busy couple of weeks. Looking forward to using the rest of my summer to make visits to Asheville. And Charlotte. And Jackson. And Savannah. And anywhere else that might include friends!

Congrats to jras and her new little baby girl, Elena, by the way. I can't wait to meet her!

Photo Shoot

Saturday morning, I got up at 5 am. Why in the world?, you ask. Well, it was for my very first professional photo shoot! What in the world?, you ask.

I was down in Fort Walton visiting Cal for perhaps my very last time before he moves to Macon. Because it was my last visit, and because he won't be there much longer, and because he's an incredibly thoughtful guy, he set up a beach photo shoot with one of his photographer friends. And it was all his idea!

We had a BLAST in spite of the early hour (which was for sun/lighting purposes), and the pictures turned out great. It's amazing what a professional can do, huh? Anyway, I'm including a sample below; these are only a few out of the 250+ that she took.

My mom would probably say that it's vain of me to post these under the assumption that you all want to see them. But you do want to see them, right??? Especially since most of you haven't even met Cal!

The whole "pride cometh before a fall" issue again.

Yeah, so apparently my fame is too widespread after my run-in with the radio business this morning. The United States Government found me this afternoon with a jury summons. When do I report? My very first, official day of summer, June-the-stinkin'-12th. My birthday week. 9 am.

Shut up.

Fame!!

Because he's a sportswriter, Cal's kind of a local celebrity down in Ft. Walton Beach. He's been on the radio a few times, namely this morning show with two radio personalities, Scratch and Lauri.

Apparently, one of the running jokes between the three of them (and all of their listeners) is that Lauri, a married woman with two kids, has a huge "Mrs. Robinson"-like crush on Cal. For Christmas, the Daily News sent over to her a poster-sized, autographed picture of him. Pretty funny.

Anyway, since he's leaving town to move up to Macon, Scratch and Lauri had him on as a guest DJ for a couple of hours this morning. I've been wanting a recording of when he's been on the radio, but Cal has insisted time and time again that he doesn't know how to get me one.

So... I emailed Scratch. And guess what?!? They read my email on the air this morning! I'm famous! I got an email back from Lauri a few minutes ago, and they're going to send me some mp3 files of the morning's broadcast. Hurray! Maybe I'll post some of it here, if it's not copywrited.

In the meantime, I'll gladly accept cash or personal check for the autographs that I know you're wanting.

HAHA!!

Happy Anniversary to me!

One day late, though. Yesterday, you see, marked one year from when I started this silly little blog.

Oh, how things have changed between then and now. More on that to come later, perhaps.

(not anything exciting more, I should clarify, just maybe a commentary on the good things that have changed and the bad things that have changed. I don't know. Maybe not. We'll see if I'm inspired later.)

A New Vocation

I thought I'd start out my successful career in real estate* with some free advertising. Just to show my abilities, you know. So...

Anyone want to buy a cute house on a corner lot in Florida, not 5 miles or so from the Gulf Coast? The sooner he sells, the sooner he moves!

Anyone want to buy a charming, brick house with a great, midtown location in Macon? Gently owned by my very anxious-to-sell sister and brother-in-law! Fantastic interior colors!

Anyone want to buy an elegant, traditional home in the heart of Greenwood, SC? Kitchen and upstairs newly repainted by my mother and sister (a different one) and brother-in-law!

*kidding about the real estate thing. Not kidding about the houses for sale.

World's Greatest Aunt

Don't deny it, Amy and Beth. You know it's true.

A weekend in Vegas and a groovin' Asian Wednesday

Before you all freak out, thinking that Miriam has moved to Macon and turned into a chronic gambler -going to Vegas twice in one year and everything- I should say that I didn't really spend my weekend in Vegas.

I just pretended like I did. Elizabeth and I both pretended, that is.

We accepted an offer to housesit for a colleague of mine. I say housesit, but I should probably say mansionsit. This colleague and her husband live out on the lucrative Lake Tobesofkee in a house whose master bathroom is bigger than my whole apartment. Heck, its master shower is bigger than my whole apartment. You think I'm kidding. You think wrong.

We each took a suite of rooms in the downstairs "basement", which includes two suites (two bedrooms with views of the lake and a bathroom in each), a HUGE common room with an L-shaped cushy suede couch, a bigger-than-big-screen television (with dvd/vcr/stereo combo, of course) a kitchen, a pool table, and a computer/office area. This is just the basement, mind you.

Elizabeth and I each had busy weekends planned, but we did get to watch Walk the Line on the tv (Johnny Cash was life-size, by the way) and catch some sun on the dock Saturday morning. We even opted to skip Sunday School Sunday morning (gasp!) in order to truly make our extravagant vacation feel real. We felt like we were reliving our Vegas weekend that took place this time last year. Alas... we were only 2 miles off of Eisenhower Parkway, one of the busiest roads in Macon. Oh well.

In other, more exotic news...

Tonight, I attempted my very first Yoga class, much to my anti-yoga mother's dismay, I'm sure. She's been warning me for months that I'll just be opening my mind up to all sorts of demons and satanic forces by trying "that new age stuff". Well, I hope I can put her mind at ease somewhat by telling her that this class was different from most. There was no new age music, no clearing our minds, no deep breathing.

Nope, this was Groove Yoga ("basic yoga moves set to rockin music"). It was me, another girl my age who had never done yoga before, and a 28-year-old teacher who happened to be about 7 months pregnant. I LOVED it. LOVED it. This is only the second thing I can say that about with this gym thing, the first being my Monday/Friday night "Buttz and Gutz" class (yes, spelled with z's.)

Anyway, Groove Yoga is only scheduled for 2 more weeks after this one, unless the other class member and I can convince the gym folks to keep it on. Maybe we can recruit more folks for next week. Next month's new class? "Shake your Assets". Ha! Again, not kidding.

Speaking of things Asian (yoga and such), I just watched a bit of The Amazing Race. I've never seen it before, but these folks were in Thailand, and two of the guys were eating fried crickets and grasshoppers. Gross.

Also, my best childhood friend (Kelly) and her husband (Daniel) had their first little baby, Luke James, last Friday night. Congratulations to them! (by the way, Kelly's brother used to live in Thailand. How's that for connecting it all together?)

Sad News

My little cat, Pip, was killed last night after being hit by a car. Janet found her this morning and called my sister and brother-in-law, who came over and moved her before I saw her. Nick doesn't seem to know yet; he's still his same old fat, lazy self. I suspect he'll figure it out soon enough. So... this one's for Pip!

Things I learned this weekend

While house-hunting with Cal (for HIM, not US) in Macon:
-Realtors are an interesting breed indeed.
-There are more houses in Macon than one could ever imagine. I saw entire areas of the town that I never knew existed.
-According to the number of House for Sale signs here, everyone is leaving. And no one is coming. (with the exception of Anna! and Cal!)
-People have strange taste in decor. One house, built by its previous owners, had two tiny little kitchens: one in (literally) the den, and one in (literally) the bedroom. Is that so that the den can borrow sugar from the bedroom when it runs out?
-The world doesn't want teachers to be able to buy houses. There's no way I could afford anything worth owning on my salary. Oh well.

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Dating a sportswriter has its advantages. One is that he has some awesome ticket connections. We had fourth row (lower level) seats on the third base line at last night's Braves game. For free! Plus VIP passes to the 755 Club, which is some swanky restaurant/bar/lounge area similar to the skyboxes at Sanford Stadium.

We also got to meet up with Aaron Heilman, a relief pitcher for the Mets, after the game. He played baseball at Notre Dame with one of Cal's friends. Pretty cool, huh? Ignore the fact that we looked like dwarves in comparison, please.

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Laryngitis is kinda fun the first time or two you have it, but by the fourth bout in one season, it's highly aggravating.

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Springer Spaniel puppies are incredibly adorable.

Watch out, Ladies

I think I got an email warning me about this guy a couple of months ago. I assumed it was a joke (If a man shows up at your door and asks to see your boobs, DON'T SHOW HIM. He only wants to see your boobs.) Apparently, though, it really happens.

What in the world were those ladies thinking? I mean, it'd be one thing if they were elderly Alzheimer's patients or something, but these girls were in their 30's!! Come on. What a sad statement about the mental capacities of our gender.

It is pretty funny, though.

mTm

The following is an exact replica of an email I just received, sent to the listserv at my school:

Subject: Monogrammed Clogs, Sandals, and other Funstuff

Tomorrow there will be Monogrammed Clogs, Sandals, Shebeads, purses, baby bags, laundry bags, head bands, ponytail holders, etc. in the Elementary Teachers' Lounge for your viewing if anyone is interested.

Can't wait. Love me some monogrammed "Funstuff".

(Yes, that's sarcasm. No, I haven't succumbed to Macon's Biggest and Most Annoying Fad. Yes, I'm still quite the rebellious prep school teacher. HA! Right.)

Bootylicious

Can this be for real? The sad fact is that some university was paying professors for their research.

Missing Persons Report

I'd like to send my friend Courtney an email congratulating her on her upcoming nuptuals, but I'm too lazy to go back through all of my old posts to find the comment in which she left her address. So. Courtney. If you're there? Can you post it again?

(or email me. firstnamelastname@yahoo.com. Or, well, congratulations.)

He sees dead people.

Haley Joel Osment is 18 today. WHAT!?!? I thought he was, like, 4. Now if that doesn't make one feel old. Pretty soon, at the rate we're aging, he'll be seeing me and you, "everywhere, walking around like regular people. [We] [w]on't know [we]'re dead."

Ba da bump.

(By the way, I realize that I haven't really posted anything substantial in the last two weeks or so. But yes. These count, too. Keeping you folks entertained. That's all I'm required to do.)

One of life's mysteries

Why doesn't "sherbet" have an 'r' in the second syllable? I mean, does anyone really pronounce the word without one? Maybe I'll start a petition and send it to the Oxford English Dictionary people to get "sherbert" approved as an alternative spelling.

Hmmmm.

Odds are that I was invited to this baby shower. There've been so many, I can't keep up.

I've been waiting on someone to snap at one of those things, and I can't say I blame the folks. Perhaps they can plead "Temporary Insanity", brought about by too many petit fours and cutesy baby things crammed into one room.

It's 01:02:03 on 04/05/06... Make a wish!

My little sisters (always meant to be the math teachers they eventually became) used to get a kick out of watching the clock and making wishes when the numbers lined up in certain combinations. You know, like "Hey, it's 4:44; make a wish!" or "Look! It's 2:34; make a wish!" Used to drive me crazy, back when I was a surly, embittered (aka hormonal) teenager.

So, naturally, I had to chuckle when I ran across this article.

Enjoy your wishes, Amy and Julie. And may they always come true!