TV spot

So how did the TV spot go yesterday, you are wondering. Well, i will say that i definitely prefer performing to an audience instead of a camera. My ear bug had a short so every time i moved my head i lost the studio link so i couldn't hear what the anchors were saying. I had to be here at 6:15am. I felt like a stuttering idiot. I forgot to have Felicia take pictures of the event. Basically it felt terrible. But, the experiment went well and apparently the morning show people talked about it for the rest of the show. I guess that means it went well. The "after" picture of Oscar kinda says it all.

Cupcakes for Everybody!

Today we are celebrating Cupcake Day at work. Technically it is National Bologna Day, but the senior staff thought that would be harder to celebrate. They set up a classroom with a bunch of cupcakes, frosting and toppings and everybody just went to town. Since i was on the road, Annie and Wendy made me a cupcake and left it on my desk. Happy (almost) National Cupcake Day!

!!! PUNKINS !!!

I freaking LOVE pumpkins. Love them. The only thing better than carving your own pumpkin is carving multiple ones for work! On Wed Oct 24th I will be on Fox 45's morning show at 7:10am to talk about "Halloween Around the Harbor" and to do a fun experiment which needs a Jack-O-Lantern. I had to run some tests to figure out the correct size needed so i bought 1 fake and 2 real pumpkins and got to carving. Here are the real ones whole, drawn and carved. I decided to go with one scary and one cheerful: The fake one worked the best in the tests so i think he is the the one i am going to use on tv. His name is Oscar. Guess this means i have to find a home for the other 2. How about my porch?!?

mmmmmm... chili

I am a big fan of swapping crap: i need to get rid of stuff and love to get new stuff. I had an extra iron that was going to live with Rachel. She, in turn, had some HUGE paperclips and retractable purple Sharpies to give me. When i arrived at her house last night she had made dinner in celebration of National Chili Week. She wanted to try a recipe that had cocoa in it and decided to go with a Cincinnati style dish. We did traditional 4-ways with spaghetti, chili, shredded cheese and onions. It was delicious and really different. I was naturally wearing white and got some chili on me in the first bite! Have some chili this week and celebrate! (try not to wear it)

Using found time

I like to be busy, but i can also appreciate quiet times. One of my favorite things is "found time" - unexpected patches of time that you can do with whatever you want because there is nothing scheduled. I was supposed to go to the Ren Fair today, but didn't (who gets stood up for the Ren Fair, for goodness' sakes? i would almost be upset, except that it turned out to be such a lovely day anyways) so i had a whole day of found time. With nothing scheduled i felt no pressure to get anything accomplished; somehow that meant that i ended up getting a lot done. I cooked myself yummy Hot Eggs Florentine for breakfast, did some laundry, washed the week's dishes, scrubbed the kitchen, cleaned, cleared and organized the spice shelf, read 2 Trixie books, showered to get warm (no heat yet; the apartment's 64 degrees which doesn't sound cold, but it is; especially if you have no control over it), walked through town to the Bead Shoppe (which was, of course, closed), went to the bank, stopped by the wallpaper store to pick up 2 free sample books (those puppies are heavy when you are walking home!) and ate lunch in the sunshine on my porch. I decided after the long walk that i was going to skip the gym today and really lazed about in the afternoon. I did some work on the massive list of cards to be made (lots of late October birthdays) and looked through my new sample books for inspiration. I spent a lot of time contemplating how nice it is to rest because you have nothing super-duper pressing to do, as opposed to resting because of sheer exhaustion. Around 4:00 my tummy grumbled. It was too early for dinner and i really wanted something sweet. I thought mayhaps i'd bake something for an afternoon tea. Most of you know that i LOVE to cook, but am less enamoured with baking; i really have to be moved to bake. Plus with the travesty that is my micro-kitchen in the apartment i rarely do either cooking or baking these days. But the mood had struck so into the tiny, but sparkly clean kitchen i went. Quickly i discovered that the fridge contained no milk, butter or eggs. And there was almost no flour, either. Hmmmmmmm... baking without those staples seemed near impossible, but i was not about to let the carefree feeling of the day be ruined by the realities of baking chemistry! Using recipes for cookies, biscuits and pizza crust i was able to cobble together a cinnamon batter-like concoction only to find that none of my baking sheets fit into the wee oven with which my home is equipped. In digging about i stumbled upon a mini-muffin tin that i forgot i owned and has therefore never been used. After 11 minutes the result was tiny muffin-shaped morsels that had a taste and texture like scones. Voila! I present Cinnamini Muffiscones With a mug of Chai and some red grapes, they made a very serviceable tea. Call to announce yourself and i'll be happy to whip up a batch for you!

Giant Pirate Scarecrow

I love, love autumn. It is absolutely my favorite season. The weird heat wave has broken and it is finally glorious fall weather here. Over at Vent My Spleen, Amy has been listing every day a new reason why October is awesome. I thought i'd add my two cents: October is the best because it is the only month when you can use the phrase "giant pirate scarecrows." Outside of nursery in Leesburg, VA I spotted this giant pirate scarecrow who has to be 30 feet tall - check out the tiny team member Amy (different Amy) for size reference:

Emotional Spectrum

My job is a fast paced whirlwind of sights, sounds, and emotions. As we were setting up the first show, I looked over toward the wings of the stage and saw the saddest sight ever - a bunch of balloons totally deflated and hanging from a high beam against a black brick wall After the show we were driving away from the school eating free leftover ham and egg shmuffins (!!!) that the lunch lady had saved for us from breakfast, when Felicia got a case of the giggles so bad that she almost choked on her shmuffin. All of this transpired just as we were passing this road (no lie, really) which made me want to stop fro a photo op (of course) which sent her back into hysterics: Just a few minutes later we were driving through Centerville when we came upon this awesomely spooky house done up for the season (not a scale model, somebody really lives there) It is non-stop every day here in the Nikiverse. (be sure to read the previous post to experience the terror portion of today's spectrum!)

Yet Another Public Service Announcement

Men - there is a point when your wooing of a woman goes from charming to creepy. See if you can spot the moment from this excerpt of a conversation i was having with a custodian at today's school, while trying to wash glassware in the janitor's closet: You are so beautiful; i mean, really gorgeous. It's a good thing there is a law against kidnapping cause i would take you far away and treat you like the queen i know you are. Okay guys, can you tell the instant that made me want to run for my life? Let this be a lesson for you all when macking the ladies.

truth in advertising?

Compare the picture of the glitter lamp on the box (left) and the actual glitter lamp (right). Is this a joke? Is this the manufacturer's idea of truth? Where's the sparkle?Where's the glitter? Where's the convection-current-carried joy? It's like a glowing jar of dead sea monkeys.

word love

I love words - LOVE THEM! I love reading words, writing words, crafting with words. I am in awe of the ability to take an insubstantial thought and fix it to paper with 2-dimensional scratchings of a pen. I love when a turn of phrase captures something or just strikes me the right way. I'm waiting for traffic to die down a bit before i go home to eat Chinese food with my brother as he quickly passes through and am passing the time reading some blogs. Over at hula seventy i read the greatest descriptive phrase that i simply had to share: "...and cuter than cute, cuter than a hundred fluffy bunnies wearing kicky little berets..." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... can't you just see a bunch of rabbits in hats? it's funny. and cute. and alliteration. bunnys... berets... cute... am i alone in this? hello? maybe i need to go home.