Saccharine Thoughts

"The girl-clothes... the girl-clothes in the washer... are they to be washed or dried?" Girl-clothes , one word. Gotta love living with a dude. :)

As you may have noticed, #7 on my list of 25 Things to do Before 25 is to get a tattoo. Allow me to expand on that - the idea is actually to get an addition to the tattoo I got when I was 19. To add some color and embellishment and likely a second sparrow to the design is something I have wanted for, oh, five years and counting. In the spirit of that and the excessive amount of free time I've had on my hands, I have been doodling away, thinking that having this bit of long-awaited ink done would be my triumphant self-indulgence upon completing #4 - finding that job that I lovelovelove, as well as a permanent celebration of the huge transition that this year has brought with it. I will share said doodles and artwork for your review, my imaginary friends trusted audience. But for now, an entertaining tangent: While doodling away one evening a couple of weeks ago, my dear friend Jack was visiting and excitedly shared the tidbit of news he had discovered while at work that day: ...

"Hon, you're like a lottery ticket. The more you scratch the surface, the more cool shit you uncover." Never could I have imagined that being compared to a lottery ticket would be so heartwarming. Thank you Jack .

After a tiring weekend of driving and lots of buttercream icing, I can mark one more thing off my list of things to accomplish before my birthday in November. My junior high pal Megan was married in Mineral Wells this weekend, and I had the privilege of playing an active part by making her wedding cake. Megan chose a Fall theme with lots of yellows and oranges and owls everywhere. When we met back in May to discuss the sugary details, she simply provided me with 5 pages of printed cake pictures, an invitation and a ribbon sample, saying "I trust you to make me something I'll love." Uh, pressure much? So I took the confidence she had in me and ran with it, creating the 4-flavor 5-tier 240-serving monster of a pastry you see here. In a turn of potential disaster the bottom layer (filled with lemon-cream cheese goodness) slid on the board, threatening a cake-toppling catastrophe. Dad and I *carefully* pulled it out of the back of their CRV and got it to the display table, t...

Today is Miss Tuft's birthday! She celebrated on Monday with truckloads of barbecue, croquet in the park and the last show of the OOB Fest. I also made her, as promised, a triple-murder-by-darkest-chocolate Twilight cake because she is wonderful and I wanted to hear her squeal. Mission: accomplished. Tufts, you have quickly become one of my favorite people in the world and I wish you the best birthday the universe can muster.

Is it a bad thing that my first instinct upon receiving my OOB Press Pass was to take it home and be-glitter the castle? Surely not. As much as I would like to reinstate Foodie Friday today, I'm just too damn busy with Out of Bounds this week. You can follow the festivities on Flickr or be more awesome and come to a few shows. So far the entertainment has been pretty stellar - last night's You're Not My Real Dad (ATX), Splendid Things (MIN) and 7-10 Split (LA) all had me cracking up behind my camera. If you're in Austin, there are still a few days left and the shows only get better from here. Might I suggest local troupes Girls Girls Girls, PGraph and Knuckleball Now, as well as FUCT (NYC) and Available Cupholders; or for a cheap thrill hit the $5 marathons at Coldtowne Theater tonight and tomorrow.

Why, what's this? Well well, it looks like me. On a stage. With a mic in my hand. Yes indeed, last Friday I drug my semi-sick self out to fulfill #11 on my list of 24 Things to Do. This actually makes the 3rd time I've sang karaoke in the past month - the first two times were warm-ups at Ego's, where I assuredly dazzled with my renditions of Total Eclipse of the Heart and The Donna's Take It Off . This was a whole other playing field because, in case you didn't notice, there's a real live band behind me. Those are the Dead Motley Sex Maidens, who facilitate Austin karaoke enthusiasts in fulfilling their exhibitionist needs through live band karaoke. Somehow I convinced myself to play lead singer through Poison's Talk Dirty to Me . Can I get a holy crap please? In case anyone is wondering why this is such a big deal in my little head, it's because through most of my life I was more or less socially handicapped by paralyzing stage fright. We're not ta...

Tonight kicked off what promises to be a very busy and friend-filled weekend for me, and what better way to get started than with good food? Good food consisted of grilled pizzas, an idea stolen from A Good Appetite : 1 c warm water (110 to 115 F) 2 1/2 t active dry yeast 1/2 t sugar 4 T olive oil 3 1/4 c all-purpose flour, plus more if needed 2 t kosher salt Combine the water, yeast & sugar in a bowl & stir until mixed. Let sit 5 minutes until it gets foamy. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Mix the flour & salt together in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture & stir until the dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a floured surface & knead until smooth & elastic, about 5 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky, not dry. If more flour is needed, add it in 1 tablespoon at a time. Coat the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl & turn to coat with oil. Cover & let rise until doubled about 1 hour...

As you may have gathered from my latest to-do lists, I bumped a few projects so as to devote time and energy to creating a costume for a friend. Well dear audience, here are the spoils of my labor: Jon's Time Sorcerer costume for a new improv series, Guilds of Steel. I'm especially proud of this because I didn't actually have a pattern to work off of, just a picture from an online costume shop that he'd picked out. Guilds is a serial improv series chronicling the online lives of characters from an MMORPG (World of Warcraft, anyone?) and the offline lives of the players. The show has been playing every weekend since May 22, with recurring characters and all sorts of plots twists and legendary quests. I've been to at least one show each weekend and I am SO proud of my friends who have been involved in this; they were even recognized in the Austin Chronicle last week, which is a pretty big stinking deal! The makeup for the show has again been mastered by Jason Vines...

This year has flown by so fast, I haven't even noticed that it's actually summertime. Well, other than the sweltering Texas heat and the wondrous lack of university students around town... I kicked off my realization of official summerhood with a movie last night. Each summer 101X and the Alamo Drafthouse team up to present Movies in the Park - a series of movies shown on an inflatable drive-in movie screen, sans the cars. Instead, picture a field of Austinites, their kids, their dogs, blankets, lawnchairs and generally a little booze. That's what my Wednesday looked like as we attended this year's first movie of the series, which happened to be Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark . I think I've seen that movie 30 times now, and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. Give me 32, and I might sing a dif ferent tune.

Click for the Onion article . Prepare to chuckle and relate uncomfortably .

... that Facebook would provide so many reasons to smile in just a few days :)

Well, that's it. After a weekend of shenanigans, Jack is off to LA. My longest running friendship since moving to Austin... is no longer in Austin. Jack is going to kick ass in LA, there's no doubt about that. Looks like it'll be Scrubs and macaroni across time zones from here on out :) *Yes that's us, circa 2005

*self-punch in the ovaries, per order of Jack* Today was spent reveling in Renaissance fun at Scarborough Faire in Waxahachie. We had a group of 10 people meet up out there, and I've been led to believe that everyone had a good time. That's what I call one hell of a Memorial Day :) Half the crew: Marc, Topping, Kristin, Kacey and Kareem. Click for the rest on Flickr!

From the brainthoughts of me and my crazy friends, brought to life by the makeup artistry of Jason Vines and awesome photography of Jon Bolden . Be prepared to be slightly creeped out.

I recently had a discussion with a friend regarding faith - religious and otherwise. This topic was specifically inspired by her noting how much I invest in other people, while being unable to devote myself to a religious view. She asked some seriously great questions for me to ponder and eventually answer. This was a killer opportunity to learn from her ideas as she is strongly of the Christian faith, while establishing and organizing my own thoughts and beliefs. Thus I feel it appropriate to share, per her permission, with you. "People are self-centered by nature," she explained. "I don't put any faith in them. Being hopeful that they will respond to my love in kind is important, but it's about having the right expectations so that I'm not caught off guard by disappointment." This is something I intensely disagree with. While she loves and feels the need to help people, my friend finds all strength, recognition, comfort and encouragement that she needs...

I had the pleasure of watching Once this afternoon with Jack, and loved it. Not for its complexity or cinematography, but for its honesty and simplicity. Last year Once was nominated for 2 Grammys and won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Music. Made on a tiny budget with "singers who could half-act" (per the director in the features at the end of the disc), it was roughhewn but well done in that, everyday and not at all storybook. Enjoy.

Wouldn't it be grand if we could heal all the people we love? Comfort them with foresight and a guarantee of what's to come. Make them forget how they had been hurt before, forget how their hearts had been broken, forget the moment they learned to no longer trust. Stitch up where others had gone wrong and make them believe that it won't happen again. What does it take to slough off the callouses from such old scars? Scarring is the body's emergency freakout reaction to a wound - the result of an overabundance of white blood cells that lay a new bed of fibers to heal. It creates a thick, protective barrier that while effective in its use as replacement for damaged tissue, is far inferior to its predecessor. Scars do not grow, do not feel, barely live - they rather just kind of exists. Some scars run too deep to soften; instead the scar tissue binds itself to the muscle underneath, hindering its ability to function at all. I have come to think that learning to love, trust...

Me: hrm, what should i do with my last 3 days of pre-surgery normalcy & independence? Jason: go carts mt. bonnel get a massage get a cupcake play kickball have dinner with me fly a kite draw a puppy make an ice sculpture go to the drafthouse make out with kacey set off a bunch of fireworks I have brilliant friends.