seven kinds of happy.

Listening To: Save Me by Elenowen

Line Obsession: "I suppose you can never tell right off who might have a piece of Prince Charming deep down inside." - from Savvy by Ingrid Law

Happy Monday, friends! There is a good chance this blog will be full of mistakes. I'm trying to watch Castle while I blog, which is not easy. This is probably not a good time to try multi-tasking. But that Rick Castle is such a charmer, no?

Happy #1: New Faces

I've noticed the blog has been getting some new visitors lately. This time the visits seem legit. The last time several new peeps happened by all at once, it was because the word "boob" was in the post. But this time the hits are staying consistent, even without anatomy talk.

Also, I noticed a few new gorgeous faces in the subscriber section. (You people are seriously too pretty for words.) (Hopefully any male subscribers will not be offended at being called pretty ... :). New faces make me smile. Welcome to those of you who are new to our little corner of the webby world. Feel free to kick off your flip-flops and look around. Or read some old entries. Or gush over the cute furball that is my assistant/associate/crit partner/super secret spy-dog. If you were really here, I would offer you pink Starburst and yummy coffee. And smiley face stickers. And PEZ dispensers shaped like Yoda. Marvelous things! However, it's probably better that you aren't actually here. This way you won't even have to pretend to laugh at my stupid jokes. (Seriously though, thanks so much for reading. I hope you'll leave a comment sometime and let me know what's happening in your world too.)

Happy #2: Biscuit.

I took Biscuit for a bath and nail trim last week. I give her a bath every now and then - but considering the hyper spazztastic nature of my dog, I'm pretty sure I don't always do the best job. So once in awhile, we go see Andria at PetSmart. I always try to convince Biscuit this is a spa day, but she's mostly not into smelling clean. Her favorite thing to do after a bath is run into the backyard and roll in the dirt. After this bath, Andria brushed Biscuit's hair out and made her look so puffy and adorable. And she put a little pink bow in her hair. Adorbs! It looked so cute and girly. I took a picture as soon as we got home. I followed her through the yard with the camera saying, "Biscuit! Look at the camera so I can see your cute bow! ... No, no, no don't get in the mud yet! Let me take a picture first!" She finally turned, sat down, and posed. And the look on her face ...

is what really cracks me up. I think the caption would be something like, "I'm about to tell you exactly what you can do with this stupid bow ..."

Happy #3: Elenowen

The Sara Watkins concert was fantastic! She's such a talented musician and it was fun to hear her solo work. I knew she would be great but there were two other equally great surprises that night: one was the truffle fries. Oh, truffle fries. How I miss thee.

Sarah and I shared an order of these fries and they were delicious. They sprinkle them with truffle oil and Parmesan cheese and then something green. Parsley? That's green, yes? And they bring them out with this delightful creamy dipping sauce. We walked around downtown after the concert but I'm pretty sure it would take days to walk off the calories in those things. That's how good they were. Yum.

A bigger surprise than even the truffle fries, however, was the opening band - Elenowen. Elenowen is a duo out of Nashville who has a country/alternative/sometimes pop sound. They remind me of eastmountainsouth. Sarah thinks they sound like The Coors, which I can totally hear as well. Their CD is good, but their live show is incredible. The lyrics were so pretty, I kept leaning forward just to hear what would come next. What really got me was the way they harmonized. His voice is a little bit alt-rock. Her voice is clear and strong, like a classic country songbird. One never overpowered the other; their just voices twisted around each other and blended together and soared to one beautiful finale after another. Toward the end of their set, they did this acoustic cover of "Tell Me Whatcha Want" by the Spice Girls. Those of us who thrived in the late 90's laughed and cheered and sang along. I think Posh would have approved. She would have called it may-jah.

They had CD's on sale for $5 that night (!) so I picked up one for me and one for my brother. I would highly recommend you give their music a listen! If you have some iTunes bucks you're aching to use, try their songs "Save Me" and "Cripple Me". Those were my favorites, but they were all great. And if you're ever in Knoxville, check to see who's playing The Square Room. They get so many great musicians there (for way cheap). Also, the restaurant attached (also called The Square Room) is home of the notorious truffle fries.

Happy #4: The Project Runway finale.

... I so would have bet an order of truffle fries on Emilio. I didn't want him to win, because I think his ego could fill a thousand tents at Bryant Park. Plus, I don't like it when designers get hateful with Papa Gunn. Despite that, I was sure he would win. He really did make some great clothes (besides the silly-string bikini). I was chatting with my bffMelanie about Emilio, and we both decided that his fashion show was not a good representation of the work he'd done throughout the season. I don't know that I even would have looked at those clothes and thought it was him. Intriguing.

It was nice to see the crown go to Seth Aaron though. I wasn't particularly crazy over any of the collections, but I know zip to the zilch about high-end fashion. The reunion show, however, ruffled my feathers because did you hear Jay's nasty comment to that gorgeous Irish model? "That's why we don't pick models with thick thighs and bad teeth." Are you kidding me?! Did you guys ever think he had it in him to be so mean? That's the kind of spirit that makes me loathe a show, and not want to watch it another season. You're walking a fine line now, PR. Me and my mall jeans are about to walk out on you and pick a different favorite show. (What's your favorite TV show? I seriously do need something new now that PR has ended :) (When does Top Chef start?!)

Did you catch the finale? Your thoughts?

Happy #5: Late night chats with old friends.

Two people I love dearly came up to visit this weekend. We did the usual: ate a lot, sat outside in the rocking chairs and reminisced, watched movies, walked through the market, drank coffee. Sometimes we laughed so hard my face started hurting :). Sometimes we were quiet. But the best part is that we were together. They're the sort of friends I pretty much just love being in a room with. Getting to that point where you can say one word that triggers a random inside joke is pretty awesome.

Happy #6: Sara and Charity

As I mentioned last post, April is National Poetry Month. After writing about that on the blog, I got the coolest email from blog reader Sara Scott. After reading Sara's email, I promptly asked her if I could share some of it with you. Sara (and her cousin, Charity!) were all for it.

Necessary backstory: Sara actually wrote to tell me about her Aunt Ruthy, an incredible woman who has battled some serious health issues for years (I'm talking like years and years). Despite so many setbacks, Ruthy is still fun and inspiring. This is what Sara said about her aunt:
She always puts everyone before herself. When our whole family (I'm talking aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, her) goes and eats at grandma and grandpa's house, she's the last one to sit down to eat and the first one to be done. She always makes sure everyone has enough of everything. When we were little and she would call me and my sister she would always say "If you ever need anything, you can always call me" before we said goodbye. She is just an amazing person who always gives of her time and self for others.

I love that. Sara's cousin, Charity, wrote a poem about the experience that Sara shared in the email. I asked if I could share the poem with you, and she and Charity were cool with it. This is her poem:

The Untitled Poem by Charity Kostedt

Life Hurts

Full of Pain

Makes Me Feel I've Gone Insane

Life Hurts

Full of Grief

Seems To Be No Relief

Life Hurts

God's my Crutch

Makes the Pain Not Hurt So Much

My favorite thing about poetry (this will sound strange, so work with me ;) is that it's broken. I like how poems look fractured and pieced together. I like how sometimes they have a pattern, and sometimes they don't. Even the best ones are a little bit messy. In that way, I think they accurately reflect the human heart. I like poetry because it doesn't have to make sense. And I also like it because, as Charity demonstrates, it can make total sense. I like how she says something so beautiful, and so honest, in so few words. Thanks for letting me share your story, girls! (BTW - My cousin Melanie is my bff too, so when I read about how much you guys are leaning on each other through the tough places, it made me get all kinds of sappy.)

Have I mentioned that you people amaze me with your talent? Because you truly do.

Before I leave: I've been getting several emails lately asking some of the same questions. (I love reading your emails, btw!). Since some of the questions are repeating, I thought I might do a Q&A post sometime soon. So if you have a question about something I might be able to answer (ie: non-math related questions ...), then send me an email or leave it in the comments. I'll keep you anon if I post your question. And if you have a few funny questions that I could use to break up some of the serious, that would be swell :) (FYI - I don't think you'll ask anyway, but I don't like to talk politics up in here. So non-math and non-political questions.) (And probably no questions about raw meat because that grosses me out.)

Hope you guys had a great weekend :) I would love to hear what's new in your world!