Dan.

This week, a man I've known almost since I was born was shot and killed in his car.

I didn't always agree with his politics or philosophies. Correction: I didn't often agree with his politics or philosophies. Regardless, I always respected and loved him.

He was a generous, loving man. When he and his wife couldn't conceive, they adopted. After adopting 4 beautiful kids, they were blessed with 2 of their own. They adopted more. They had a total of nine children at the time of his death.

As a new wife and a future mother, my heart aches for his family every minute.

Godspeed, Dan O'Brien. I learned so much from you, and I'm glad that now, you know. I won't forget the things you shared before you were called home, and I will try to learn to be as loving and generous as you were.

I never understand when things like this happen. But I suppose my best friend does, so I'll trust he know's what he's doing.

b.

A-hem.

This was a triumph
The votes have been counted, huge success
Its hard to overstate my satisfaction
Barack Obama
He'll do what he must because he can
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead
Now there's no sense crying over every missed state
All the voting's done, and many voters feel great
For now when january comes
The election, he has won
The president is...Obama!

Red states, don't be angry!
I'm being so sincere right now
Even though your candidate, well..
He lost, see?
And will not be leader
And should probably stop, go home, and retire
Respect he earned, but listen because
I am so happy for you

'Bama takes smarts and data
And those two he'll combine
For he ain't a traita'
The US will be fine
For this role he has earned
A new page has been turned
Leader of the USObama!
Go ahead, believe him
He'd rather prefer you on his side
He truly is a man who wants to help you

Yes he's a black man
HE'S A GOOD GUY, NOT RISK, NOT CHANCE
Anyway this country's great
Its so diverse and well voiced
The silly rumors were false
He's neither Muslim nor Jew
He has christian values
Which will benefit you
His long campaign has been run
And although its been fun
Soon he'll be hard at workObama!
Please believe in his name,
Obama
He's helping science: alt. fuel.
ObamaI
f your gay, he wants rights.
Obama
And if your dying? healthcare.
Obama
And far less dead, troops come home!
Obama
Obama!

Obama!

And A-merica is Still Alive.




Specialest thanks to sasukechaos.

URBAN KNITTING!

Still haven't decided if I'm staying up for the election results. I think my fever + hallucinating is a valid excuse for such non-patriotism. BUT:



via http://deputy-dog.com/2008/11/urban-knitting-worlds-most-inoffensive.html

Urban knitting. Awesome.

Punkins!

Teehee!

Um, yes.

My desk at work is decked out with mini-pumpkins and bowls of Smarties and M&Ms. I can't wait for the costume party... Just gotta decide whether this year, I'm to be Zelda Fitzgerald, or Princess Zelda.

...or Captain Kirk, to complement Warren's Spock.

xoxo,

bg

Nothing better!

Snuggled up on the couch with my sweet husband, drunk on spiked hot chocolate, watching Futurama and contemplating going back to work after a nice long vacation. It's going to be a good week.

Hello, cardigans. Welcome back.

I'm gettin' married in the mooorning...

Ding-dong the bell's are gonna chime!
Hail and salute me
Then haul off and boot me...
And get me to the church on time!

xoxo,
bG

It's a dorky Photobooth picture, but...

So anyway, Warren gives the best...





...t-shirts. *Wink*

I'm super busy, but hey, you got a picture of my killer rack. Not impressed? I'm wearing a sports bra!! SHEESH.

What a day to be alive...

I'm going to see some friends from out of state
The very trip that you were supposed to take a while
ago
But it fell through
Like all of you
Like all of you

Thought I'd make the drive but a free plane ride is in
the air
And just like that my fear of it disappeared
Like all of you
Like all of you

And I look high and low for yesterday
High and low for you and I
High and low

Once I can see straight I might move somewhere cold
Seattle or the bay area, to see your ghost
What's left of you
What's left of you

And I look high and low for yesterday
High and low for you and I
High and low

Found a letter from a man I might have met, addressed
to you
And I'll steal the words he ended with:
I miss you
And I do
Miss you
And I do

High and low for yesterday
High and low for you and I
High and low...

...

Hotness.

What a stud.

Holy windsock, Batman!

So, I got too busy for the horoscope thing. I'm way too busy to be on blogger even now! KAPOW!

BUT, I had to mention on thing. Kites.

KITES.

My wedding favors are kites. How FREAKING awesome is it going to be? Pretty crazily so. Also: croquet on the lawn during reception hours. I can't wait. Less than 1 month!

I'm totally rocking my rock (1+ carat, that is).

That's your horoscope for today!

So, I've been wanting to do this experiment for a while now, and I figured: why not now? I'm going to read my horoscope every day, annotate its accuracies and errs, and then note the next day if it was even slightly accurate. Yes, I am bored. We're rapidly coming upon the end of our busy season at work, and from here until January, I'll actually have time to breathe at my desk. Think of it!

Sagittarius November 22 - December 21

For Monday, September 8 -You'll be blessed with a great big chunk of free time today -- so start thinking now about what you will do with it! Or, it might be easier for you to make up a list of things not to do with it -- like shopping, watching television, or surfing the internet aimlessly. Make sure you use this time for something productive. Bake some cookies, read a book, call up a long lost friend. Do something that doesn't drain your wallet, yet offers some concrete output you can feel proud of.

This kind of makes me worried I'm going to get fired (that is, if I believed in that sort of thing!). I'm a skeptic, in case you didn't know already, and while I'd love to get a lot of free time today to do with as I wish, I don't think it's going to happen. I'm in the middle of a painting for the living room, and I'd sort of like to finish that, but then again, I wouldn't mind doing some baking or reading at all. I know a friend who needs some extra attention right now, and my future brother-in-law is off work til 4:00 and I could stop in and visit him, too. But, if given the time, I'd probably just go home and play Twilight Princess, because all I gotta go is vanquish the Temple of Twilight, scale Hyrule Castle, and fight Ganondorf. That's it. Then it's over and I can finish all the mini-quests my impatience denied me before.

Thanks anyway, Horoscope. I don't think you were accurate at all today! However, if you meant WEDNESDAY, Warr is going out with some friends and I'll have some time then. But I don't think that the alignment of the stars and planets and intergalactic whatnot allows for a margin of error, do they now?

Tune in tomorrow, for "Bethany Gets Fired For Blogging On the Job."

xo

Via verygoodtaste...

It's the hundred!

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I got 70 out of 100. Not too shabby, I don't think! Here's what I've consumed (with some commentary):

3. Huevos rancheros (BEST way to eat eggs, except deviled)
7. Cheese fondue (DUH!)
8. Carp
9. Borscht (Nast)
10. Baba ghanoush (Yummerific)
11. Calamari (fried, please!)
12. Pho (try the soup, when eating at any Asian restaurant. you can't go wrong)
13. PB&J sandwich (lived off em)
14. Aloo gobi (I've had this, if not this, something strikingly similar)
15. Hot dog from a street cart (Hot Dogz rule)


17. Black truffle (I know. I'm the heart of class)
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Make mahn Vuhginya wahn - Fabbioli Raspberry Merlot FTW)
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
31. Wasabi peas (nast!)
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi (VERY nast)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (ashamedly, yes.)
39. Gumbo (MMMMM SO HUNGRY NOW)
40. Oxtail
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
47. Chicken tikka masala (this is freaking awesome)
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
51. Prickly pear (juice counts)
53. Abalone (as a kid, island of the blue dophins was my favorite book. had to do it)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (duh. moving along)
56. Spaetzle (I'm a frauline, get it?)
58. Beer above 8% ABV (Dogfishhead ftw)
59. Poutine (HEAVEN. Words cannot describe how much I love this dish)
60. Carob chips (hatefully, yes. fuck you carob.)
61. S’mores
63. Kaolin
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
75. Roadkill (I'm fairly certain this was served to me at my South Carolinian neighbors' house)
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini (just had my first the other day! Thx Macaroni Grill!)
81. Tom yum (I've had a love affair with this soup since the first time I had it in Dublin, 2001)
82. Eggs Benedict (nast!)
83. Pocky (I love you, Pocky. So cheap and good.)
85. Kobe beef
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano (DELISHUS)
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee ($$$$)

Hmm, among the things that I haven't tried, I will NEVER try blutwurst, horse, or snake. And probably not sea urchin, either.

The best of thirteen sisters, and thirty-seven more...

...sweet, sweet Virginia always keeps an open door.

So, I was googling my printer model at work, because it's telling me it's out of toner already and I SWEAR I replaced it 2 weeks ago. Bastards. Dell=hell. No joke. Anyway, the combo of words I searched for somehow came up with a very few, bizarre links, mostly Korean. Anyway, one had the blip below translated as "whorly philosophuncule, bioflavinoids!" Now my favorite workplace curseword.

I went to a folk music concert last week. There are some weird folk fans. I mean, I guess I sort of expected the hippie-type, but these kids were borderline steampunk. Shudder...


you think you'll find some mountains
in western colorado
fifty weeks of snowy peaks
is where you're gonna be
but babe the rocky mountains are gradually eroding
the hills of coors are nothing more
than blue ridge wannabes

a turkey on it's belly
a chicken on it's back
anyway you look at it
you'll find her on the map
she revels in the seasons
shakes hands with the north
hugs the land of dixie while dancing on the porch

you think that autumns in new england
are the greatest of them all
but give me sweet virginia for the fireworks of fall
the prettiest october in all the fifty states
just drive up to the skyline
park the car and wait

so grow up colorado
excuse me tennessee
if you don't mind, north caroline
here's where i want to be

when you're talking home
you mean the old dominion
just southeast of heaven to the surf and the hills
she's the best of thirteen sisters
and thirty seven more
sweet sweet virginia always keeps an open door

they're fiddlin' in galax
pickin' up in floyd
and in the land of patsy cline
they're songs you can't avoid
when you're walking back after midnight
i'll fall to pieces, too
i'm crazy back in baby's arms with sweet dreams of you

they're sailing down in norfolk
skiing up in bryce
climbing up the devil's stairs against the ranger's advice
they're harvesting in loudoun to shenandoah winds
and in the land near washington they're rooting for the 'skins
fight for old d.c.

so grow up colorado
excuse me tennesse
if you don't mind, north caroline
here's where i want to be

pack up your impala
and make your move out west
past the blue ridge mountains
you'll find you passed the best
and when your dreams have ended
where mountains are concerned
me and sweet virginia will await for your return...

It's another lovely Monday.

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

What are you drawing energy and inspiration from today?

...

:'( RIP, Colin.

Okay, go ahead and stay
But don’t sleep in too late, I’ve got to wake alone
It’s just that goodnight is easier than goodbye
I’m already sold on ending up alone

And oh don’t you dare pray for my salvation, dear
Can’t you tell that I’m in love with you here?

So make your plans, make them all in stride
Oh, you better hide whatever's on the line
It’s just that goodnight is easier than goodbye
I’m already sold on ending up alone

And oh don’t you dare pray for my salvation, dear
Can’t you tell that I’m in love with you here?

And if you’re bent on wasting all of your time
Come around, come around, come around
And if you’re bent on wasting all of your time
Come around, come around

And oh don’t you dare pray for my salvation, dear
Can’t you tell that I’m in love with you here?
Pray for your salvation, dear
Can’t you tell that you’re in need of...

Okay, go ahead and stay
But don’t sleep in too late, I’ve got to wake alone.


I'll miss that guy.

I don't like Thursdays.

I'm bored. Someone, please amuse me. Text meeeeeeeee...

11:23 AM Jones: appreciate your graffiti, but please keep things clean on my fb wall. my mom sees it.

LAME.

11:27 AM Bryce: Reminder: my band is playing blah blah blah...

Why would I go? They are lame, and my now married ex is your bassist. His wife wants to murder me. Hint, love: don't marry the man if he's still in love with me. I mean, I know I'm impossible to get over, but srsly. Relatedly: I hate mass texts.

Currently stuck in my head: "Pee-pants, the adorable tramp. The lovable hobo clown." Points if you can tell me why.

Currently considering: How I hate that guy who thinks he can turn "-licious" into the new "Fierce."

Currently hating on: This client who wants every sustainable resource known to man documented in a single worksheet, complete with annotations. By Friday.

Currently consuming: Strawberries, almonds, and nonfat Greek yogurt.

Currently missing: you.

Currently listening to: The Sea & the Rhythm - Iron & Wine.

Can't get tired of you... even after 12 years.

I'm obsessing over Greg Laswell's newest EP, How the Day Sounds. I've MORE THAN forgiven him for covering "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" last year... this is way gorgeous. I heard him described as "Better than Coldplay." Um, maybe. I think that's somewhat of an insult. How about "Better than Coldplay, in that it's good, very good, and nothing like Coldplay, and Greg is like Chris except gorgeous, not naming children with cold-as-ice actresses after fruits, and doesn't have his head up his ass, convinced he's mankind's savior." Ahem.


Also, the video for the single has Elijah Wood in it. ELIJAH WOOD. CAN'T QUIT HIM. PARDON ME WHILE I:


We've been in love since he was in Flipper. Oh, 'Lij. I credit him as the reason I have a slight girl-crush on Natalie Portman. Maybe it's the fact that she's a brilliant person, and vegan activist. No, I think it's just because she looks like Elijah Wood.


Two by two, eyes of blue. Two by two.

Goodbye, Elijah. We both knew our love could not long last. I'm a married lady now... au revoir! Au revoir!!!

<3

Erm...

I think I've finally found THE shoes... and they're not $400 Emilio Pucci's or $300 Kate Spades. They ARE $150 Charles David's... but on mega sale. Jam.

*smiles as I shovel my breakfast of chocochipoundcake*

Hey, I'm allowed. I fit into my wedding dress now and I look fabulous.

Last night, I had a naked dream about Miley Cyrus and her dad. They were polite about my nakedness, but I awoke in a cold sweat with a jolt.


There's this chickie's blog that I check because it's hilarious... she's so... god. I don't even know how to express it. But dammit, she hasn't posted in like 2 months. I need my fix. Come on, infant-face.


I pretty much deduce all girls I dislike to "faces." There's been jerk face, horse face, man face, ass face, orange face, fugly face, china doll face, bitch face and meanface mcposerpants, and now, coined by my bff's bf, "infant face." I think it's the funniest thing in the world, because, she does kind of look like an infant in ways. Just one of those faces that sort of looks like child's botox, no expression at all. Just cheeks.

I don't HATE girls, I love them very much. In fact I try to be friends with them all; every new person I meet, I see the potential for being GREAT friends somewhere in there, and I am always gracious and friendly. China-doll face I met once. She's gorg, but paints like a whore. I was really sweet to her at our first meeting, and bam! She was a total beeotch! So I gave her a facename. All of these people I give a chance to before I give them the face. Orange face and I tried to be friends, and I kindly ignored her aura of fake-tanned orangevity, even when some of it came off on me when she hugged me once. But she ended up being super psycho, and stalked her boyfriend I barely knew, becuase she thought I was trying to steal him. I was actually trying to date one of his friends, the dude I'm marrying now. Needless to say, he dropped her like a hot potato and now he's dating my bff. I heart my incestuous little circle. Uhhh, the gossip-girlness of this is scaring me. I'm going to go back to editing this greenhouse gas document.

If I weren't me, I'd probably call myself Paleface.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! HE'S A MAN OF FAITH!

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Erik_Pressman

This is creepy... I wish Raven Bart were involved.

I MOVED

The new place is pretty sweet. :D

A feeling of impending doom...

I used to be pretty much, well, retarded.


Things that used to upset me are trite, and it takes a lot more to shake my cage.


A bill is about to pass in the Senate, increasing our national debt by, oh, about 8 gazillion dollars. At my expense. At your expense. And I truly believe that there is nothing we can do about it. Nada.

...kind of sucks. But it's also going to give unlimited monitoring rights to the IRS... rights to monitor all of your purchases based on credit. I hope you aren't too upset by that, because you see, you're paying for that, too. And so am I.

Crap.




On the bright side, it could be a lot worse. Look at some parts of Russian (sans Moscow); Africa, Latin America and the Mekong River region. People are just trying to survive. It could be that, I guess. Instead of fussing about our shitty, ever-growing-into-Big-Brother government, we could be thankful that we have places to live, food to eat, and (for now) the right to worship who, what, where, how and when we want.

The really bad part, as I see it, is the fact that shit could be a LOT better. But it's not. And it's pretty much our fault for not seeing this coming.


"Shoulda voted Ron Paul when you had the chance..." ****.

The dress. It.

Love.

this is caketown! it's delicious!

Ummm... go to http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. You'll smile a bit, maybe cringe once or twice... and then you'll see it. The cake that looks like an incredibly, creepily REAL NEWBORN EFFING BABY. Ummmm... yeah. I think I lost a few heartbeats to the Uncanny Valley today. Oh yeah, the naked woman giving birth cake is pretty gross, but thanks to some strategically placed censors, is SFW. Favorite? Baby carrot jockeys. Not posting any pictures because I want you to go and look yourself.

On an aside, this morning I was humming along to my iPod and I realized that the playlist I've been religiously committed to lately, is entitled "june." Oh yeah, it's just that good!

And admittedly, I've added a couple things to it since 6/08. But who cares. My taste surpasses time... and space...


...the final frontier...

Peer pressure.

Got an iPhone. Shiny.

muse. ach.

Hey, you. Yes, you. Go listen to Two Men With the Blues - Willie Nelson and Wyton Marsalis.

Also, swooning over:

The Devil, Tou + Me - The Notwist

Saturdays = Youth - M83

With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly - Sigur Ros



The new Sig is unexpectedly poppish, but I like it... it suits my happiness. I still prefer Takk... but would never presume to say it's their best work. It's just that "Hoppipola" makes such a good wedding processional...

WHAT THE FUCK!

MOMENT OF ZEN FROM YESTERDAY, WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!?!?!?!?

My moment of zen:

We've all got to find it somehow. Today, my moment of zen consists of:


And:


AND.......:


And last, but not least:

Hey, kids. Remember when...?

"This Administration has put forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. When I am president, there will be no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens; no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime; no more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. Our Constitution works, and so does the FISA court."

Too bad Obama doesn't believe that anymore.

- Joan Walsh

I'm so depressed about the election it's not even funny.