Free Cokes for 'Monroe'

if ever there's been a day to jinx myself - today was the day. it started with an innocent facebook status message "amber knows in her heart that skirts and scooters don't mix, but she will trudge on..." friends made comments about it - but i never actually had an issue with either today....sometimes it is just tricky to work with both at the same time is all. just sayin'

later on dear friend calls and wants to go out for dinner after a less than stellar day. we decide on chinese and ...we're off. i'm starting to tell a story as we walk up to the door of 'new china' and then the beautiful silk skirt (thanks, mom!) that i was wearing for the first time betrayed me right then and there. the wind took my skirt for a wind sock and i frantically tried to keep the thing down - too late. what was contained in the front was exposed in the back and vice versa...i just didn't have enough hands. the door to 'new china' was open and i had a captive audience and therefore committed both to the patrons memory as "that girl" as well as to entering or making a MAD dash. it was warm, and there was no wind in the chinese place. theatrics complete....a laughing waiter stepped forward and asked how many in our party - then said "this way Monroe". i don't know if i've ever made such an entrance...but it was all too traumatic for my taste - which at that point, required a diet coke. being the celebrity of the evening, the laughing (and he was laughing every time he returned to our table - which was often) the laughing waiter kept the free diet cokes coming.

i have to go now....i'm going to google fishing lure weights to see if it is possible to sew them into the hem of all of my skirts....

capiche, eh?

to think that this conversation would have made no sense at all in 1999. last sunday evening during dinner...a friend looks at me from across the table and asks "so, are you on twitter?" i reply, "me? no, no i don't tweet...i just blog".

townies

nostalgia was the name of the game today.

i went to chico for a bbq to celebrate ms. sarah's birthday. sarah recently bought a sweet home in one of chico's numerous older neighborhoods. the people who owned the home prior had been there for 50+ years...it is fair to say they had a special place in their hearts for wallpaper. additionally, the family who once lived there also enjoyed a swimming pool and a pool table. both were left behind with the sale of the home. one sits proudly in the great room and the other has become a beautiful, terraced courtyard. i sat down in the courtyard this afternoon - enjoying the sun and sarah's two puppies, jack and jill.

later on in the day more family arrives. johnny abandons a game of pool to tend to the bbq so his daughter, caitlyn's boyfriend (another johnny) steps in for him. turns out johnny is going to college in redding but he went to high school in the same town where i did in massachusetts...a very small town. easton...home of stonehill college, a lot of really old stone buildings...notably - the library, a fantastic children's museum and the o.a. tigers. we talk about easton for a while - he asks when i went to school there. happens to be the same year that he was born. gasp! okay - - the year is 1989. johnny asks me what easton was like then. i tell him what i remember...and then i recall the boy who was always sitting in the center of town either in front of one of the ames buildings, or near the gas station and always late at night. i wondered about that boy then, but it has been years since i've thought about him. i snap back to the game of pool and immediately sink the 8 ball out of turn. johnny pretends it doesn't happen...

i head back outside and walk down to the courtyard where lillee, sarah's daughter is reading her new book from uncle johnny. the book is 'all about your new puppy' or something similarly titled...lillee is reading from the page with the headline "why does my puppy mount visitors?".

jack and jill look on.

cart 'em out

for weeks i've been having the strangest dreams. usually, the dreams that i remember are humorous, or fantastically bizarre in a good way. but my dreams of the last few weeks have been a parade of my past. people that have set me down, or that i set down, passed on - - are no longer in my life...and yet, come bedtime - the slideshow begins. sometimes the paranormal is involved - as in the case of my dream self awaking from sleep in a very uncomfortable maroon, velvet, low-back chair with a half-burnt cigarette in each hand. the window coverings (tab top) start to dance like piano keys - but there is no one there...they go up, and down by themselves. i wake up and it is 2:23 a.m. these dreams are never scary, but let's not tempt the dream king here. this morning i had another dream -complete with old cast of characters. i awoke and glanced at my alarm clock...it read 5:27; 3 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. i turned the alarm off and started my day earlier than usual - hoping to be rid of the current 'amber's posse from yesteryear' dream/playlist that is going on right now.

is that a banana...or?

what's going on with bananas? we've got people smuggling blow in banana crates, and deadly spiders lurking about this favorite fruit? why didn't the deadly spider bite the culprit who was smuggling the blow instead of ending up in some grocery emporium? how's that for karma? these are some hard times....we've got to work together!

indulge me

...how can you tiptoe toward the exit with your tap shoes on?...

-brazilian girls

lovely nina

...she is singin' to me today...feelin' good.

happy friday

mixed signals

i walk into my cubicle to find a brand new cell phone on my desk and a couple of cardboard boxes next to my chair. the new cell is for me...good, good...the boxes, also for me...um...

well, the new cell was a thoughtful touch i think to myself...

apparently i'm being bumped out of my cube and into the next one...which actually has a better view. well thank goodness for that.

jitterbug

Spoiled by Snail Mail

What a fine weekend! The weather is absoloutely beautiful out - even though the wind likes to play tricks on people in skirts.

I got some spring cleaning done - did substantial purging of closets and drawers....asked myself "when was this ever a good idea?" several times out loud. Relaxed, listened to a lot of Brazilian music and Morphine and just enjoyed the sun. Seems like the last several weeks have been spent indoors watching Netflix, taking Facebook quizzes (most likely written by high school boys), and plenty of reading...or updating my Netflix.

I don't even remember the last time I stepped foot inside a "video store". Yesterday afternoon reminded me why I haven't been in one for some time. I've grown so accustomed to selecting what I want to watch online and then the DVD ends up in my mailbox within 2 days. Love that! The scene at a local Blockbuster this weekend was reminiscent of Pac Man. I'm certain that if you could peel back the roof and look down into the video store at any "busy" time - that is what it would look like. Browsers closing in on you from both ends of the aisle...no escaping the one person who seems to have to move as you move, pause when you pause... down. every. single. aisle. "Does it really take that long to read the back of Bagheads?!?!".

People are amazing and wonderful creatures - and yes, connection requires participation and all that. I've griped a good gripe about technology replacing authentic human interaction - but I'm willing to forego it in the case of renting my DVD's.

...are you done with Bagheads....yet?

Tales of a Female Nomad

excellent read. i love travel writers...bill bryson being my favorite - but gelman offers another perspective that i found very interesting too.

I'm really not interested in "studying" anybody. I just want to slip into another way of life, not as a tourist, not as an academic, but, as much as possible, as a part of the community.

Gridlock Rock Stars!

I navigate my way through the construction work on the bridge when Bon Jovi comes on the radio...my charge perks up and begins to sing along (in parts...isn't that how we all sing in the car?)

"I'm a cowboy....steel horse I ride.....wanted....deeeeeeeeeeead or alive". Then she looks over at me with just the biggest grin I've seen - points to the dashboard and proclaims, "that's my life".