Dena For Mayor

No one wants to be mayor. That's the news that greeted me last week in my yoga class. Apparently some much smaller towns around us have people lining up around the block to put their name in for mayor but Madison? Nope. No one wants it.

At $1100 a year, it's not the best paying job in the world. Plus, our little town has issues with more and more downtown store fronts standing empty, lack of jobs and transportation, and a host of other issues about which I am utterly and completely uninformed.

Which is why it was a hoot when my class suggested I be mayor. "Sure," I said. "As long as it's understood upfront I'll run the town as a dictatorship. Non-negotiable."

You know me well enough to know that of course I had to consider the idea for at least an eighth of a second. But there's no way I have the knowledge or--more importantly--the people skills to attempt it. People get on my nerves. Drama gets on my nerves. Babies get on my nerves. Anyone not doing exactly what I want them to do gets on my nerves. Probably not a good skill set match for mayoral duties.

Blair would be fantastic other than he doesn't have the time. Maybe someday when he retires.

Meanwhile, protect Madison. Vote down Dena for Mayor!!!

Our Weekend With A 12-Year Old

My niece should visit more often. Our life is definitely more fun when she's around.

Thursday, she and I spent an hour pouring over cookbooks before making vanilla fruit salad, Pirate's pie (what 12-year-old thinks a recipe with kidney beans, cornbread, green peppers and onions sounds good?), and blueberry tea cookies. We played Uno and BS (a card game she taught us) that night. Friday, she and I had manicures/pedicures, went shopping, saw Hairspray, and met Blair for dinner at the Melting Pot. Yesterday we went to the Mad Platter where we painted glasses and art that will be kiln fired and returned to us. Then we went bowling, out for pizza, and ended the night at a drive-in movie theatre to see Transformers.

I am freaking exhausted. I've kept to my running schedule during all this (getting ready to head out and do 8 miles this morning with my running group) and managed to sneak in some work.  What I find most exhausting though is just needing to pay attention to someone on a fairly consistent basis. I'm used to my hermit-like life where I'm alone most of the day until Blair comes home.  Holding conversations is tiring, people. =)

I'm slightly panicked as I have several projects due Monday/Tuesday that need my attention so I plan on working most of today. Blair and K. are going to meet me in GSO after my run this morning so we can have a quick coffee together and then he's driving her to the pick-up point with her parents.

I admit I'm ready to have my house and life back. Still, having K. here made us get out of the house and find things to do and we ended up having as much fun as she did at almost every activity. A good reminder we need to get out of the house and go do things a little more often.

The Curse Continues

I met my best friend Trisha in college when we were sophomores. That was 18 years ago. To this day, we do not have  a decent picture of the two of us together.

It's not that we haven't tried. Girls night out, college bars, weddings, bridal showers, lunches, visits, vacations... we photograph them all. Yet inevitably, one of us looks smiling and stunning while the other looks like something unpleasant may be crawling up their butt.

But finally, FINALLY (!), while in NY last week, the incredible happened. G. snapped a picture of the two of us on the city streets that was stunning. We both looked casual and relaxed, trendy, smiling - the gods had answered our prayers. We actually high-fived one another in the street cheering, "The curse is broken! The curse is broken!"

Ha. Trisha just called to tell me that last night G's mom accidentally deleted all of his New York photos from the computer. Said photos also already having been deleted from the camera. Are you kidding me???  So the curse holds and never shall there exist a mutually acceptable photo of the two friends.

Why? Why?????????????? =)

Buying A New Notebook

It's the small things in life that bring me pleasure. Like shopping for a new notebook. I probably spent 20 minutes in Eckerd's yesterday, roaming the paper aisle in search of the perfect notebook. Had a great time. Compared colors (am I feelin' the dark blue or neon green cover?), debated the virtue of spiral bound vs. tear out, and then there was the whole size issue. I typically buy your standard 8 1/2 by 11 pad, but have recently discovered the joys of the composition size notebook (9 3/4 x 7 1/2). It's much less intimidating to face a blank page when it's smaller.

However, I surprised myself and walked away with a honkin' big notebook, bigger than legal pad size, spiral bound at the top. The novelty of it grabbed me. Any way one can introduce freshness into the writing life is a good thing. I also grabbed a couple of the composition notebooks as there was a sale, 2 for $1. (And oh, how happy was I?)

Luuuuuv supply shopping. Drop me off in an Office Depot and let me roam the aisles and I'm a happy camper. I think my total purchase price for all 3 notebooks and gum was something like $6.38. Happy happpy joy joy. Money and time well spent.