Amber & Mysteries of Talent

How is that Jimmy manages to take amazing photos even with his iPhone camera?

And, even more mysteriously, how are those kitty boys so darned adorable.

Amber & Lessons Learned

Before Thanksgiving, I had to take a course in anti-harassment training.  In it, a bearded supervisor with really developed shoulder muscles feels bad for "Dawn," who is a dead-ringer for Gwyneth Paltrow.

He just tries to make her feel better.

Is that so wrong?

YES.  YES, IT IS.

Amber & Birthday Treats

Diana made a delicious ice cream terrine with layers of rhubarb frozen yogurt, Italian plum sorbet and peach sorbet. It is frakking delicious!

Holy crap, Diana. You are amazing.

[Update 11:37 pm: I added these photos to show a) that Kevin was not bored by the terrific terrine, but rather with my photojournalistic intrusion...

...b) what a joyous and lovely laugh Diana has...

...c) it was a birthday celebration, and d) I can fill up my cheeks like a squirrel does but with air instead of nuts.]

[P.S. Don't I look oddly like Woody Allen in that shot? Look at the eyebrows.]

Amber & Public Speaking

As CRD pointed out yesterday over at Internals Plural, I had two speaking engagements at James and Alisa's beautiful wedding.

For the first I gave a personalized version of the first of the the Nissuin blessings on the topic of holiness. Those readers who remember the story of my epiphany while doing yoga in Madisonwisconsin will be able to guess right where I went: The Grapes of Wrath.


I encouraged the couple to learn the lesson of Preacher Casey and come to recognize the holy in the everyday, in the world around them and in each other. I quoted the part where Casey says...

"I'm gonna work in the fiel's, in the green fiel's, an' I'm gonna be near to folks. I ain't gonna try to teach 'em nothin'. I'm gonna try to learn. Gonna learn why the folks walks in the grass, gonna hear 'em talk, gonna hear 'em sing. Gonna listen to kids eatin' mush.... Gonna eat with 'em an' learn. ... All that's holy, all that's what I didn' understan'. All them things is the good things."

Astute Wrath fans will notice that the part about Casey lying with ladies in the fields and husband and wife thumping mattress were edited out to be respectful of elder attendees of the wedding.

Then, I gave a toast. In that, I was humorous, made references to doing my interpretive dance later and told the story of how James and I almost met twice before we stuck on our third encounter when I was in my flannel nightgown. My point was that when something is meant to be, when two people are right for each other either as friends or as husband and wife, it happens. I said that James, after their first date had very cautiously told me that "there might be something there," and that we all could see exactly what that something was in Alisa and what the something between them was as well. And I thanked them both for being wonderful.

I'm not sure what that face is in this photodocument by CRD. I think maybe it's the part where I am mentioning that James is very good at helping move furntiture in a dorm room?

I think both went pretty well, although there was a bit of weepy at some points. And special thanks to Town Shop for helping me hold it all together.

Amber & Blue Cake Wishes

Happy Birthday to Nick!  Today is the very special anniversary of the day he joined us on this planet (well, some of us weren't here yet).  He's a very special person and is nice to kitties.  We should all be glad to have him among us.

Here is Nick with some French cousins, his nieces, sister, dad, and soon-to-be sister-in-law.

  Nick is, of course, the one with his face closest to the blue cake.

Happy Birthday Nick, from all of us at Amber &, and especially your buddy, Woody.

Amber & Performance Reviews

On Friday, I got my first real performance review from my boss. I got three gold stars!

I am performing well at swimming, good working and no coffeeing. Yay, me!

Amber & Mom Jewels

Thanks, Mom.

Not just for birthing me or introducing me to Beatrix Potter, Paddington Bear, and Ginny, and not just for feeding me (mostly canned tomatoes) for the first 18 years of my life or helping me write letters to Wonder Woman. But also thanks for giving me this pretty necklace.


It's a little glarey in this photo, but it's got three strands of little aqua-colored buttons attached by little aqua beads. It's my favorite necklace and it really dresses up any number of my plain gray and black outfits. Why, it can even make yoga pants dressy enough for the theatre. I get compliments on it all the time.

It also reminds me a bit of something my hero, Dr. Temperance Brennan, would wear. She always has such nice, big pieces of jewelry. Very anthropological.

Something that is also anthropological and also of psychological and phenomenological interest (maybe if I knew what that mean really) is that sometimes my heroes merge. Like when Bones dressed like Wonder Woman for Halloween.

Double the pleasure. Or like when Jessica Fletcher is in a Noel Coward play. Which brings us back to my necklace and my mom. Eagle bites weasel.

Amber & Fan Mail

I have long been a fan of Wonder Woman's product, wonderfulness. Who knew she was also a fan of mine?

This is not the first mail I have gotten from Diana Prince, though. When I was a wee lass, I used to write letters to her, in care of the local CBS station, all the time. And, when the show was cancelled, I sent a letter to the station president saying that I knew that it was just because the P.T.A. was jealous of Linda Carter's body. Everything I knew about P.T.A.'s I learned from that song.

Amber & Important Meetings

I had an important meeting this morning with two handsome men. This is documentary evidence of that event.

Amber & Mahvelous Ladies

I love Bill Cunningham, but I don't actually know who he is. I know he's not this guy, and I know he thinks it's just wonderful how the ladies dress themselves with such individual style and flair.

Every week, he does a report on what he saw the ladies wearing from the prior week. He's always awe struck by their genius, and I get swept up in his enthusiasm. He gets mentioned alot on Gawker, where I also learned that someone tried to identity theft him! And, I also read about this scandal where he dismissed a minion. Apparently, I am not alone in my adoration.

In this week's audio slideshow, he notes how ladies are dealing with the cold weather and wind. He also goes off on a tangent about how "witch" rhymes with something he doesn't want to be mistaken for saying, so he doesn't include a photo of one in case.... well, it doesn't really make sense. But I sure love him!

Amber & Tina Fey

One of the nicest things anyone ever said to me was when Kevin told me that Shane told him that he thought that if they ever made a movie of my life I should be portrayed by Tina Fey. I was horribly flattered. I definitely think no one plays depressive anxiety as well as Tina, and I love watching 30 Rock on hulu.com.

However, Tina's recent casting in the film Baby Mama shows gives me concern. Since I do not want babies or to be a mama (and I even thought it was spelled momma!), I wonder if she would now bring too much baggage to the role-- and by baggage I mean diaper bags, strollers, and breast pumps.

Still, she does have good flippy hair.