the worst blogger ever

yall i know it has been over a week (maybe two?) since i have posted and i can't take much time to post now either. i am trying to squeeze in a few hours of work before i have lunch with my friend molly. jes is getting her haircut right now and then having lunch with one of her committee members from georgia state. the only thing i want to quickly report on is that i got the FIRST HALF of my magnolia tattoo yesterday. it is so lovely. i will take some pics and post them when i get back to new york. yeah so i sat in the chair for FOUR HOURS and the top half is totally done and the bottom half is just outlined. i had this guy demian from liberty tattoo do it. he is so great and cool. i am really glad that i went to him for it. it is real sore and feels like a very bad sunburn (this is normal for tattoos) and i had a hard time sleeping last night- lots of tossing and turning and worrying whether or not i was bleeding and smearing ink all over sarah & kim's ALL WHITE bed. but alas, i did not, the saran wrap kept all the funk in. i can't wait to get it finished. it is so lovely.

ok i have to work now. i miss my kitties and my friends in new york but at the same time i love the warmth of atlanta and all the people i love here. its gonna be hard to leave them again. happy new year.

thank god for sweaters

so my sister has this cat named holmes
he gets little dreds on his belly so she has to get him shaved
then he looks a little bit like a dinosaur:



she lives in colorado springs, where it is cold during the winter
so here is how she dealt with the situation:



thank god for sweaters

two cute muffins

check out my darling nephew ben:



and my cousin nancy's baby tre:

on amazon, lesbian erotica, art openings & "gay" cowboys

so it's been a minute since i posted and therefore this will appear a bit disjointed. perhaps if i make a list, a sort of an agenda for this posting, you will be less confused.

things to be discussed in this post:

1. my run in with amazon.com last thursday morning
2. my run in with new york kim's lesbian erotica reading
3. my run in with some seriously famous people at dusty's art show
4. my run in with some homo cowboys on the silver screen with supper club gals last night

so we begin, please open your textbook to www.amazon.com

the other morning i was checking my email as i do every morning and i see on my emory account i have an email from amazon about a recently placed order. funny thing is, i have not purchased anything on amazon for weeks. so i open it and find out that in fact amazon is telling me i have purchased a medical textbook for my friend in VIETNAM (!) and my amex has been charged, oh only $268. i was all "WHAT?????" so, in good dj fashion, i began to panic and started to frantically search for a phone number for amazon. not so easy to find, by the way. even JES couldn't find it (i called to interrupt her finals studying at school). finally i found it and called. dude on the other line was less than helpful, but i figured out how to cancel the order before it actually got shipped. i wanted dude to assure me this would not happen again. he told me to email some address. i did and it got bounced back. so i called again. talked to a lady this time. she was a bit more helpful than dude number one. she said she erased all my credit card numbers off of amazon. all i had on there was my amex and my work pcard. she also let me know that there were maybe six different emails on my account, only three of which i recognized and/or authorized. we deleted all those too.

so i went back to make sure all was well and lo and behold, there was another email about another purchase from amazon. you can imagine by now that i was ready to throttle someone. this time someone purchased a $300 gift certificate and had it sent to their aol email address. again charged to my amex. so i called for a third time, talked to an angel named amanda who took care of all of it, changed my pass word and sent my shit to the gift cert. department who cleared it all up. i will buy nothing from amazon for the rest of my life if i can help it.

then thursday night we had not ONE but TWO events to go to. now to set the stage a little. it is freezing cold sleet/ice/raining when we leave AND there is a good chance the MTA (train and bus system) will strike at midnight which means if we are not home, we are FUCKED basically. and to top all that off, jes has a final the next morning and she is not completely prepared for it when we leave the house at 7pm on thursday night. she studies her outline while i start to doze off as we speed into manhattan on the F train. we first go to a reading at the KGB lounge in the city. it is for the newest anthology of lesbian erotica. new york kim has a piece in it, so we are going to support her, but she makes it very clear she is not reading at the event. though her piece does not reflect it EVEN ONE BIT, she is hella shy and the idea of reading it in front of a room full of folks is not fun for her. we get there, late, to hear the end of a lady's story. it had to do with power and making your partner eat dog food so she can fully enjoy the vibrating bee strapped to her parts. neither jes nor i found any of it sexy really but we both immediately thought of "best in show" with parker posey's character losing her shit b/c she can't find the "buzzy bee" doll for her dog. after dog food lady there was a break so we chatted a bit with glennda, ali, monique and kim and then we headed out to the deitch gallery for dusty's art show. oh, but before we get to the gallery, let me say that i was excited to see eileen myles, the writer at the erotica show. apparently she co-edited the anthology they were reading from. i told the supper club who she was and i hope to turn them on (no pun intended) to her work. let's call that star sighting #1. here is a pic of her for those of you who are wondering who she is. i think she is hot, but its as much about her brain as it is about her looks:



we arrived at the deitch gallery (78 Grand near the corner of Wooster) and it is packed. the show is in honor of JD's (of Le Tigre) second lesbian calendar. I think the show was called "JD's Lesbian Utopia." The show exhibits both the main calendar photos taken by Cass Bird (they are lovely) as well as my friend Dusty Lombardo's photos, some of which appear in the calendar as well. If you are in New York over the next few weeks, go and check out the exhibit. Dusty has a whole wall in the larger room (the first wall on the right) and if you like any of the photos (and you will like many of the photos) contact her directly through her website: www.dustylombardo.com

i mean really, check out the website anyway b/c her shit is tight and when her photos are hanging in the MOMA, you can say "oh yeah i've been liking dusty lombardo's stuff for a long time." won't you be really cool then? anywho, the place is packed full of all kinds of folks and jes and i have about twelve layers on each so we are looking for our peeps and a place to stash our coats. finally we find dusty and mary and chat with them. they both looked so beatiful and i am kicking myself for not brining my camera. mary had on this cute brownish dress and boots and her hair up in sort of a bun thing. and dusty had on maybe trousers or jeans with a shirt and tie and cutey blazer. her tie had this little heart stitched on it- i guess mary made it for her. adorable. we got there so late that it started to thin out shortly after we arrived. the only stars i spotted were bitch (from bitch and animal) and then eileen myles made her way over to this joint too. so we decide that it is getting late and that its in jes's best interest (and mine too b/c i was tired and crampy) to skip the afterparty. we are about to leave and i look at jes and she is gesturing (with her eyes) at this tall dude checking out dusty's photos. i followed her gaze and realized that it was none other than josh harnett.



he was in sin city and that movie with harrison ford and a bunch of other films. let me say first, that he is one handsome man. tall, a bit greasy and in jeans and a wool ski cap. let me also say that earlier in the week there was a RUMOR that scarlett johansson was coming to the opening. apparently she likes the lesbo photographers. then we heard she couldn't make it b/c she had to fly somewhere. fine, get our hopes up and then crush us like bugs. we can take it. now after i got over the shock that jes recognized someone famous BEFORE me, i began to realize that josh has been reported to be scar jo's (that's what we will call her for short) sweetie. i thought "that's cool that he showed up even though she couldn't make it." he kept looking at dusty's photos (b/c they are amazing) and jes and i joked to ourselves about for him they would be more expensive. it was getting late, so we headed for the door. as we are walking out i pass this hot blonde femmey girl and i look twice and you know who it was? oh yeah, it was scarlett johansson (aka scar jo). i tried to communicate this to jes, but no luck. when we got outside i told her and she was all "i didn't see her, i need to see her." i told her to go back in and look while i texted dusty to say that scar jo was in the house. jes came back and was like "donna you need to take me back in there and show me" (amateur) and so i did. i pretended like i had to talk to mary about something (i did, i had to tell her about scar jo). she had figured it out by then as well. jes got a nice long look at scar jo and then we headed out. for those of you who lives in caves, here are some photos of scar jo.

first a divine black and white:



what's your favorite city? oh, cleveland:



isn't she pretty?

anywho, here is what is hilarious about the whole thing:

1. while dusty was receiving the text i sent her about scar jo, she was being introduced to scar jo
2. scar jo was flirting hardcore with the lesbo photographers, okayyyy?
3. scar jo has her septum pierced and had her retainer in and visible (she is so hard core)
4. scar jo has replaced parker posey and jes's #1. hard to believe, but true.
5. scar jo is just 21. oy, i am old.
6. i called atlanta kim and sarah to tell them and the first thing atl kim said was "how are you not watching the OC chrismakkuh episode right now" and then she asked me who we saw.

so yeah, i think that is the biggest star sighting yet yall. tell me what you think.

now lets move from the bright lights of the big city to the rolling hills and plains of wyoming and brokeback mountain.

jes and i went to dinner last night with the supper club ladies and then jes came home to study (good lawyer) and the five of us headed to see brokeback mountain. have yall seen it yet? i am not completely ready to comment on it, but i can say that heath ledger and jake gyllenhal having sex and in love, in general, is hot. their first time doing it was not so hot to me, but overall, them together-hot. i am sure this is about their hot toned bodies and all, but i bet too it is about the fact that *i think* i know that they are both straight guys so its totally taboo that they had to make out and simulate sex with each other. is that weird?

all i am thinking right now is "i hope nancy/ali's mom isn't reading this." i mean if she doesn't like the swearing, i am going to guess she will not appreciate me talking about two straight dudes fucking. what do you think?

locksmiths and west coast friends

good saturday morning my lovlies.

i am sorry i have been remiss about writing (christa) but i have to say you all must be tired of hearing how depressed i am (not) writing my dissertation and how i struggle with the whole process most days. i thought i would hold off and write when i had something funny and happy to write about. it took me all week to get to that point.

before i get into the meat (tofu?) of my week, let me first report a star sighting my friend higgins had. she called it in *last night* so it is hot of the presses yall. so first higgs went to the ESPN Zone in TIMES SQUARE (no, she is not high on crack-she simply loves her brother) to watch her brother's soccer team play some important game. perhaps she can comment more on this in the comment session b/c it escapes me what the game was. anywho he coaches mens's soccer (i am guessing it is men's b/c i imagine they do not show women's sports at espn zone unless its like a bikini competition or something) at maybe rutgers (i think).

so now i bet you are wondering "what star did she see at ESPN zone, was it michael jordan? shaquille o'neal? mike ditka?" well stop guessing, she didn't see the star there. AFTER the zone, she went to see this art exhibit (b/c she has culture yall) called "1000 pictures" and while she was there she saw none other than mary catherine gallagher herself, yes, you are correct sir, she saw molly shannon from Saturday Night Live. She even brushed up against her. How hot is that? Very hot. she said she talks just like she does on the show: very nasal.

thanks higgins for sharing your sighting. keep them coming dudes.

ok, so i have been cranky for most of the week b/c again i feel like a loser about my diss and i am afraid to apply for these fellowships, blah blah blah. so i decided i would step away from it on thursday and do a little grocery shopping. this, in brooklyn, takes hours. so i got all layered up b/c it is COLD AS FUCK here (not happy about that) and headed to the washington mutual to take out some cash. then proceeded to the park slope co-op where i was able to purchase most of my groceries. my most exciting purchase aside from my 89 cent avocado was a box of these chocolate chews that provide you with all the calcium you need in one day. you eat two and you are golden and they are DELISH and they do not have hydrogenated oils like the brand name ones called VIACTIV. if any of yall would like me to pick up a box and send them your way i will. or at least pass on the brand name. they have sugar and whey in them, so elin i am not sure if you are allergic. lemme know. anywho, i dropped off those groceries, chatted with the kitties and then headed to key foods to pick up the rest of my groceries for way too much money (they are quite overpriced in my humble opinion). my day brightened when my phone rang in the baking good aisle and it was the aforementioned higgins. we chatted for some time about her stinky day and my stinky day and she gave me professional advice about committee members and asking for recommendations and such b/c she is real smart like that, and then i paid for my groceries and walked home in the freezing cold darkness (it was maybe 5pm). i got home a little crankier then when i left b/c on my way back from key i stopped off at the meat market to get some tilapia and they were out. blast! and i also started to feel a little queasy and i have no idea why. random.

i figured as long as i could get home i would be ok, so i walked the two blocks, got to my door, put down my tote bags of groceries and stuck my key in front door. i went to turn it and it turned a little and then it got stuck. i started to panic a little, and then breathed and then tried some more and some more and some more. no dice. i called my landlord kristin hoping she was simply upstairs, could come downstairs and let me in and we could struggle with the key from the warm inside. nope, she was at work at stony brook. and her partner was at work at nyu. she told me i could go to the locksmith back over by the meat market. so i headed that way and called jes and then she called me back and said to go back to the house and she would try the key. so she arrived and she couldn't get it out either. then we went to the locksmith and he came and tried it again and again with all his tools. no dice. then he broke my key off in the lock. he explained he would have to drill through the door and he asked me for the twelve millionth time if there was anyone in the building. so like a bitch, i reached across him and rang floor two (my landlords apt) and floor three (her partners office) like 100 times. then i saw someone move on the third floor and my stomach dropped. down comes a lady from the third floor. apparently she is subletting the office upstairs one night a week. so she opened the door for us. of course this required her to INTERRUPT her therapy session with a client. NICE DONNA. by that time my key was still jammed in the lock so he had to replace it anyway. two hours and several HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS (in cash i might add- very shady but he didn't charge us tax b/c we paid cash) later, we have a brand new spanking fancy lock on the front door. i was wrecked for the day and had me a nice glass (or two) of white wine. we ate dinner, watched OC and i hit the hay.

yesterday i met up with my friend dusty in williamsburg. she is in town from san francisco showing some of her photos (she is an outstanding photographer) and i went and met her and "helped" her prepare. this meant i pulled frames out of a box, took them out of their wrapping and handed them to her. not much, but it gave me an excuse to hang out with her. we also got lunch at bliss. she got a breakfast burrito which she loved and i got a hummus sandwich. it was ok. it had califlower in it. no me gusta. after she got all the photos framed we sat in BEAN BAGS (how fun is that?) and she finished up this paint by numbers thing she was doing. i headed home and ate fake turkey sandwiches with jes for dinner.

i also got a wonderful surprise on my way to the train in williamsburg: a call from my best friend mary (who is sweeties with dusty and in town for her exhibit as well). now i thought i would not get to see mary until next week b/c i thought she was staying all the way up in queens tonight and then heading to vermont tomorrow. but actually she was just over the border of brooklyn and queens and we got to meet up at the metropolitan. jes and i met mary, dusty, mary's brother joe, mary and dusty's friend shoshana and shoshana's sister who i want to call liz, but i might be making that up. anywho, OF COURSE i took photos because they are all gorgeous.

here is one of mary and dusty. notice how long mary's hair is AND that is it parted down the middle. she normally parts it on the side. now i like the middle part as does shoshana, dusty prefers the side part. maybe when mary stays with me next week i will ask her to side part and then put up comparative photos and yall can tell me which you prefer. its like american idol but no singing and all about hair. anywho... here they are:



and here is mary and her brother joe. i like to call him "joey d.":



and lastly and clearly not leastly, shoshana's sis, shoshana, and dusty. adorable.



after we finished at the bar, jes, dusty, joe and i headed to kellogs diner where we partook in some grilled cheese and fries. then we walked dusty back to where she was staying and jes and i, being the lazy bums we are, took a car service home. saved us at least an hour on the train and walking in the freezing cold. i was so tired i was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

sunday is my friend miriam's bday. happy bday miriam!

and christa if you send me a few pics of your lovely wedding you know i will post that shit here.
holla!

just a quickie

just wanted to let you all know about this great movie we watched last night. it is called "millions" and it is funny and quirky and touching. the little boy that plays damien is ADORABLE and i really like the woman who plays dorothy. her name is daisy donovan and she is in that new show by david arquette and courtney cox called "daisy does america." she is spunky and hilarious. the little boy damien is obsessed with saints and throughout the movie he meets some and he's like "st. gus, born 1234, died 1295." it's totally random and unexpected and maybe i just like it b/c i was raised catholic. put it on your netflix que (still don't know how to spell this yall). you won't be disappointed.

i also wanted to post some pics of the winter wonderland that is brooklyn. i worked out this morning and walked home the long way along prospect park. it will be more lovely with at least a foot of snow, but still i think it is real pretty. see for yourself.









have a happy tuesday!

ithaca is gorges

good snowy monday morning. i can't believe winter is already here. i need to get me some winter boots and pronto b/c there is more snow heading toward nyc this evening. while it is very pretty to look at, i imagine i will be mostly angry for the next two to three months. we'll see.

so this weekend jes and i went to a bed and breakfast near ithaca, new york to celebrate our FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY yall. i know, can you believe we have been together for four years? who knew i had it in me? anywho i thought it would be nice to get away, see more of the state, and maybe just maybe, see some snow. well mother nature came through b/c it snowed for a good part of our drive up there and jes was beside herself with joy! we went to this b&b that sits on an organic farm. it's called brookton hollow farm b&b. it was divine. here is a picture of the house:



and here is a pic of our room, it was called "joshua's room" after one of the owner's sons:



here is a picture of some of "neighbors in nature"




every morning, one of the owners, debby, would make an entirely vegetarian breakfast. it was lovely.

so we got there friday night after getting a bit lost in the greater ithaca area. it was dark and this farm is in the COUNTRY so its not like you can stop at the local BP and ask for directions. we finally made it there, dropped off our stuff and then headed to get some dinner. we went to this cute place called the ABC Cafe. Both Jes and I got this delicious special of black bean enchiladas. Now it cost about $8.00 so we thought it wouldn't be all that much food. Lo and behold the server brought us these behemoth plates of food and we both only finished half our dinner. This one woman came to clear our plates (not our server) and saw that we wasted so much food and scoffed at us. Jes, being the gem she is, said under her breath "well if don't like the waste, why don't you eat some the leftovers skinny mc skinny" (the woman was very thin) and sure and shit we look over and she was. jes was quiet after that. for dessert (b/c it sounded so good) we ordered a toffee bar covered in ONE scoop of vanilla ice cream. the dish comes to our plate with FOUR scoops of vanilla ice cream. we were both dying. jes kept telling me i needed to eat more or we would look like wasters. i ate until i almost exploded and paid for it the rest of the night. we were going to get a drink at a local bar but i was in pain from too much food and too much dairy. so we went back to the room and played scrabble while my belly decompressed. jes won at scrabble, for the record.

now when we first got to the place on friday night, i went to the bathroom to pee while jes sat and chatted with debby the owner. debby let us know that strangely, she was all booked up for the weekend (she is normally only full during spring, summer and fall) and even more strangely, the two women in the room next to us were also from brooklyn. when i joined them, jes told me, and i thought "oh that's weird" and then i got excited that maybe we would make new friends. jes was up near the window when our neighbors pulled up later that night and she peaked out to see them. i asked her what kind of car they had and she said "honda". i thought "nice car." anywho we didn't think much of it really, but sort of joked about what if it was people we knew and didn't like. then we went to bed.

the next morning we got up and went down to breakfast. we were chatting with debby and the other lady who was staying there from pennsylvania. we sort of looked like this:



you know, just minding our own business. then we heard our "neighbors" (the mystery ladies from brooklyn) coming down the stairs. they sort of looked like this:



then we realized it was ali and monique from our supper club and we looked like this (that's us surprised if you were wondering):




and they realized they knew us and they looked like this:



ok, ok, truth be told that is a photographic documentary of a *reinactment* of our surprise, but still, that is pretty fucking weird, don't you think? i mean i had told them i was interested in taking jes to a b&b upstate and that i found one i thought i liked but i gave them no more details than that. and can you believe it? ali booked a room for her and monique in the SAME PLACE on the SAME WEEKEND. small world yall.

so while it sucked b/c we did not make any NEW FRIENDS, it was so great that our "OLD" FRIENDS were there and we could spend time with them. we chatted for some time after breakfast and made plans to meet up for dinner and a movie and partytime at THE gay bar that night. jes and i spent the day looking at waterfalls and studying. here are some pretty pics of the waterfalls at the gorges in town.





after jes's face started to freeze off we went to the cafe to drink coffee and i read a book while she studied. then we did a little walking around in the "commons" this area with all these shops. we went back to the house and showered and then met up with the ladies to head out to dinner. here they are in their winter gear:



we were going to have dinner at this delish tapas place but there was an HOUR wait. bastards. so we went to the world famous moosewood restaurant. i got some coconut salmon i liked, monique got some great lasagna, jes shared mine and ali got some weird asian burritos she did not care for. after dinner we went back to abc cafe for dizzert and tea/coffee. we were killing time so we weren't too early to THE gay bar in ithaca, aka Common Ground. Here is a pic of the sign:



It was actually really great to have time to chat with the two of them and really talk about our lives and our work. i feel like we don't get to do that as much at supper club b/c we are eating and talking about our days and usually analyzing the l word extensively. as we were leaving the cafe to hit the gay bar ali had a real bad back spasm so we took her and monique back to the room. it was a little bit scary b/c i didn't know how to help her. apparently all she needed was a little massage and to lay horizontal for a while.

after we dropped them off, we headed to the gay bar which was, for reals, in the middle of the country. it is housed in a double wide trailer. i tried to take a picture of it, but there were all these smokers in front and jes thought it would be rude. inside it looked like any other small town gay bar. lights, deejay and some bad fashion. we drank one beer each (only $3 a PINT) and then headed home. jes was very very thankful that that was not the only bar we had to go to in brooklyn. it reminded me a lot of the gay bar in champaign or even some of the gay bars in columbus. just regular folks drinking and getting their dance on.

the next morning we woke up to a few more inches of snow on the ground. it was lovely. seafoam got a true taste of what winter is like:



after we got home, jes studied while i unpacked us and did some laundry. while it was nice to be away, it was great to be home and love on the kitties. it has snowed some here in brooklyn and there is more in store this week. i will try and get some pics of the park and whatnot and post them. ok i need to go and try to move the car.

don't get used to this

sorry i just found this great pic of jen at www.perezhilton.com

congratulations jen and ben

sexy chocolate jennifer garner had her babygirl yesterday
rumor is they are going to name her violet

let's hope she looks more like her and less like ben affleck:

yet another star sighting

so this morning i finished editing my dissertation chapter (again) and sent this revised version off to saralyn and molly who helped me re-work it, and then to my advisor-i am hoping she had not yet read the version i sent her in october, and then to my friends alyson and nicole (who i actually interviewed for the dissertation). they said they would be willing to take a look at it too. it felt really good to get it out to them. like one teeny tiny step closer to completion. can you believe both molly and saralyn have already got back to me about it? who is the luckiest? that would be me.

so after i got that together i headed into the city to do a little shopping. i went (for the first time) to the feminist bookstore bluestockings. its a very unassuming place but i like it. they have great tshirts and lots of zines and magazines, and if i may say so myself, they had a copy of the drag king anthology. that felt good. anywho, after that i headed to rockerfeller (is that how you spell it?) center to see the tree and to pick up some chocolates at godiva. yall, i love me some dark chocolate truffles. i am sure they are no good for you, but damn they taste good. anywho, here are some photos of the pretty tree. they lit it last night.





there is something funky with our digital camera, so that is the best i can do for now. i have to ask jes to look at it.

i want to go into the city at night some time between now and christmas day so we can see the lights at night. i will definitely take photos and post them here.

so anywho i was heading back to the subway and as i walked past rockerfeller center (where the today show is filmed i think. oh ann curry i love you) anywho as i passed the building i saw a black escalade and i knew that meant: A STAR IS NEARBY (i'm like a fucking pro yall). so i looked and who did i see?

none other than david cassidy. who is he you might ask. well my little muffin, here are some pics:

old school davey:



present day david cassidy:



for you youngins who don't know, he was on the partridge family. a true hunk alongside leif garrett (i LOVED him)
i mean he is no oprah winfrey (she is in town today for the taping of the david letterman show AND to go and see the opening of "the color purple" on broadway), but i mean i still saw someone famous. that has to count for something, right?

ok i need to get started on dinner. please light a candle/say a prayer for world AIDS day today.

and thanks to all the folks who took the yankee/southern quiz and posted their results. i LOVE feedback.

two more days until jes and i celebrate our FOUR YEAR anniversary. love is in the air yall.