Friday, June 22, 2007

Just Look At Him!...


(clickable)


This is a picture that I played around with during my Photoshop 101 class last month by layering the original snowflake picture underneath a copy of Linda Huber's amazing rendering. I didn't really expect it to turn out so beautiful...

Heck, what am I saying? How could it help itself!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Zippers and Pussycats..


OK... so I promised this.

I don't know when exactly it was that I determined that I couldn't just quickly and casually pack up my suitcase for a long awaited vacation and expect my kitties to, in any way, cooperate.

I think I was clued in one morning around 5 am... having a 7 am plane to catch. All done.. all ready to go.. and just one or two suitcase zippers to go before I'm out the door.

Wrong.

If there's anything I've learned since I met Clay is that kitties hate traveling. Kitties hate kennels. Kitties pretty much hate anything about their schedules being disrupted and if they don't want to go someplace or do anything that they don't wanna go to or do they will be sure to let you know it. Trust me.

Do you even know how many nooks and crannies there are in your house that you don't even KNOW about?

Anyway.. first let me introduce you.

Here's Riley:




And here's Marzipan:
And yes... as sweet as they may seem to be... they ARE NOT so sweet during those moments of trying to "gently" shove them into a kitty carrier...



How many times have I crawled under the bed upstairs... having to brandish a broomstick... in 90 percent humidity! Seriously... when you're all ready to get on a plane that is just "plain NOT FUN!"

And then there was the time when I only had an hour to catch my plane and yet I had to sit down and turn on my computer and play Clay Aiken montages and sigh and sing along with them just so they would think everything was completely normal...

But I have come to learn...

So NOW.... I pack WEEKS in advance. Or at least I have every piece of clothing and sundry item laid out and mentally placed into my suitcase far in advance. Because the zipper can only.. zip.. once.

Anyway.. I am going to see Clay in 3 weeks. And I am already ready!!!

And they don't even know it !

Heh

Monday, June 04, 2007

So, How Soon Is Really TOO SOON?... to start packing...


Given the rollercoaster ride that this tour's ticket sales took us on I think we finally deserve the luxury of just basking in these last few weeks of anticipatory bliss. So I believe now is as good a time as any for the "road-trips" to begin!

Of course, I would have been fine with starting my packing weeks ago... but it's kind of like the drinking before noon rule, right? I mean, to do so would probably indicate a serious problem...

So today, I celebrate...

The 30-Day Countdown!




Not to keep relying on similies to make my point... but that whole ticket buying process this time around DID seem to me to be a lot like childbirth... especially in the way that as I'm sitting here typing this right now I'm not remembering the pain of it so much anymore.

In fact, I only occassionally do I let my mind drift back to my first plan... the one which didn't pan out at all. The agonizing decision making process of should I commit to this one... just go for it? And then the hours upon hours spent trying to figure it out never even occurring to me that the ticket battle hadn't yet begun. But anyway, I must own some kind of record now for booking and cancelling hotel rooms. Did it ever USE to be this difficult? I think not, but then again, perhaps it all just goes back to the childbirth thing...

At any rate... I now have 3 legs more or less figuratively cemented in stone. I probably could have done just as well with 2, but as I've come to learn and accept... things in moderation, when it comes to Clay, is just not something I do.

On the other hand... I think in the end I restrained myself quite well.

Stay tuned to hear the reason it really DOES take me a month to pack. You definitely won't want to miss this one!