Amber & Is It Wrong?

Is it wrong that when I discover a new Castle on Hulu, I clear my schedule for the evening (even if the things on my schedule were unloading the dishwasher and sewing an obi belt), pour myself a tall glass of Chardonnay, put on some lip gloss and snuggle in on the couch?



And, even if he is sort of developing a strange width to him, Nathan Fillion, you really are ruggedly handsome.  There is more of you to love.

See you tomorrow, world.

Or, really, in 43 minutes.

Amber & Mind Blenders

Sometimes on the weekend when I am engaged in meditative activities like laundry and house chores, my mind is like a blender mixing together different ideas and thoughts and quite often coming to exciting new conclusions (often then forgotten by Monday) or new resolutions.  Today, I made a smoothie from the different delicious fruits and yogurts and ice cubes that CRD served up over at Internals Plural.

I was thinking about what I would be like if I hadn't ever met some of my BFFs and also remembering how central Kate Bush, who might just become HUGE with the Twighlight fans any minute now when they Google "Wuthering Heights," was to many of my first conversations with CRD.  And if it wasn't for Kate, Jerry and I wouldn't have first bonded, and I would have never met his roommate, Kevin, who introduced me to Diana, or his friend Chuck's friend James.  And then who would I be?

And that made me think about how much of who I am, the quintessence not sparked by my BFFs and family, is all thanks to Kate.  After all, Kate defined pretty for me with leotards, beautiful sparkle eyes and red lips.

And where do you think my love of big hair came from?  When I want to be pretty, really, I want to be Kate.

And without Kate, I might not have pursued my dream and honed my skills in interpretive dance...and wouldn't the office be a less interpretive place without it?



And, aren't we, after all, what we eat?



Like a pomegranate, insides out, all is revealed: everything I am, Kate, is you, too.

Amber & Sunny, Sunny Tuesday

It's a pretty miraculous sunny, mild, fresh spring day here, today.  I know it's early March, and there could be another snowstorm next week just to remind us that winter still reigns.  But, today is today, and it is good.

Even in the office.

You know what else is good?  You, dear reader.  Spring warms my heart and reminds me to love you all the more.

Smooch.  Even if you came here to spy on my friend.

Or if you associate me with migraines.

Amber & Le French

You may not know, but Coffee, my on-again-off-again lover, and I broke up again.  I'm totally head over heals for the bean, but we're just not a good fit.  It's not you, Coffee; it's me.  And my shaking hands and acid reflux.

And, I totally recognize that I am on the rebound.  I went back to my old flame, Red Lipstick.  Although I know in the past Lipstick has treated me wrong, it claims to have reformed.  And, I believe it--although I recognize that I may just be taken in by its obvious charms.  Only time will tell.  And my Scramble 2 scores.

When we're going out together, I feel like I can be myself--more monochromatic--just because lipstick is with me.  (That makes Purple my BFF, the third wheel, who will be waiting for me patiently and comfortingly when Lipstick and I are on the rocks again.)  So, today's outfit revolved around a black and white striped t-shirt.  And that made me think of France, and then I had to know why.  So I Googled.  And lo!  It's because of their naval uniforms.

And that made me think of all of the other great things the French have given us.  Herewith, a list of my top five favorite French things.

1.  Striped shirts.

(Even better with red lipstick, which is not French.)

2.  Mayonnaise.  Great with fries, burgers, Sapporo rolls, and turkey sandwiches.  Really, great with just about everything.

3.  Casablanca.  Without Paris, what would we always have?

4.  Jacques Lacan.  Because without the Symbolic Order, I wouldn't have a BFA.  And if I hadn't gotten that degree, I wouldn't have met James or Kevin, and CRD and I wouldn't have half the jokes we have now.  And I wouldn't have really utilized these over-active mirror neurons.

5.  That really great episode of Murder She Wrote where Jessica is in France.

Merci beaucoup, les grenouilles.

Amber & Smooch

It is now my custom to greet Bostonians with cheek kisses. C'est arrive!

Amber & Celebrity

Remember how yesterday I thought I was all famous? Well, Harriet has totally outdone me.

Like me, the give her job title.  But not only is she named in New York magazine's 2009 Gift Finder, but they included her photo.  And they pick out a holiday gift they think she would like.

But boy are they wrong. Harriet would never wear that hooded scarf thing.

Amber & Prices We Pay

Sometimes, we do things we know are bad for us. Like: We have that second shot of Sambucca to toast our eternal friendship with our college friend, even though we had four tequilas earlier and only weigh 102 lbs. And we pay the price later, perhaps in the form of a black eye or a wicked hang over.

I am living on the edge today. Used to be that my Distinguishing Characteristic Property was red lipstick. But then, Kevin pointed out that my lipstick was on a list of those that had lead in them. And, I decided that I had already lost enough brain cells during my summer as a lab assistant at Technical Coatings. I now only wear the lipstick on special or business occasions. Except for today.

You see, my nose skin is all blotchy and horrible from using the pump shower soap at the Y after swimming instead of my very expensive face soap. (I am sensitive; I cried over CRD's post yesterday.) You can't tell in the photo above because Photobooth nicely porcelainifies my skin. But, I thought that red lips would help distract from the red around my nose.

I'm not sure if it's working-- maybe because I am, right now, losing brain cells that would help me decide if it is working.

Amber & Kate

Last night on the way back from the soup party (I was running late), Shuffle decided to play me two Kate Bush songs in a row, "Moments of Pleasure" and "The Morning Fog." I think these are arguably two of the prettiest songs ever. They're both about happy things, like laughing with friends over absolutely ridiculous things like saying, "don't talk to me like I'm listening to you," or singing "Closer" in the Broadway-style, or being excited about the Witch Mountain movie. There I was on the A train and Kate got me a little choked up on account of singing beautifully, reminding me of my youth, and making me appreciate all the special little moments... like watching this video.



Thanks, Kate, for being important to who I am. Listening to Hounds of Love in the early morning on headphones and my dual cassette player while petting Megan is my root story. Or at least it explains my love of interpretive dance, red lipstick, and my friends.

Amber & Contagion

The great thing about having an inflamed, and possibly minorly torn, rotator cuff muscle is that it's not contagious. (There are bad things though, too, like: pain and iability to lift the arm and how do you get the sling on with only one working arm? But still.)

While browsing soup recipes yesterday, I stumbled across this slide show and related article on the NY Times website which I thoroughly enjoyed. It made me feel much better about my shoulder ouch.

She may be a bag of trouble, but she sure has nice bangs and pretty red lipstick.

Amber & Distinguishing Characteristic Properties

In chemistry, we learned all about distinguishing characteristic properties. Those are the traits that a substance has which help uniquely identify it. It's kind of like a signature style, but not at all changeable. Like, if a compound finds out it has lead in its lipstick, it can't stop using the lipstick without becoming a different compound. I, on the other hand, am still ALH whether or not I have floral handbags.

Some people are mean. That seems to be a distinguishing characteristic property for them. I don't like those people.

The central struggle for me, many times, is to figure out how to be a happy little flower when surrounded by Mr. Means. Tap Dancers are surprisingly nasty people and those flexible legs have a surprisngly long reach. So far, Gardeners seem much nicer.