Today...

Today I woke up, rolled over and nudged Tallulah, a dog always reluctant to face the morning. Tallulah woke herself like she does every day with a looong luxurious butt-in-the-air stretch during which her unnaturally long pink tongue unrolls like a scroll as she yawns expansively. Then she stumbles around the bed, eyes half closed like a drunken person, until she finds my face, puts her nose to mine and tries to lick my face. This is her official “good morning”. If I make no more moves, she’ll immediately heave a sigh of relief, lie down and go back to sleep, and hope I quit bothering her already. I slept late today, so I got up and spent what was left of the morning returning/making employment related calls. My job search is fraught with delays.

Today, I had a sorely needed appointment with my stylist, Amberley, and she worked her usual miracle on my hair as we traded horror stories about our ice storm experiences and I caught up with the latest gossip thanks to her current supply of People, Us, In Style, and In Touch Magazines.

Today, I ran errands. I stopped by the library to drop off some materials that went with a set of movies I’d borrowed through an inter-library loan. I discovered my account showed $225 in late fees. WHAAA? After a little ‘splainin’, I’m happy to report that’s down to $12. I received a very welcome check through the mail. This meant depositing funds in various accounts and settling up some bills. I’d like to say I took care of all of these tasks with one neat trip downtown, but I kept crisscrossing back and forth like a spaz between my house and the other end of the city. I listened to my Be Good Tanyas CD the whole time. It’s been in the player forever now, but I show no sign of growing tired of it.

Today, I ate more Amy’s food; these all organic, vegetarian frozen entres are fast becoming all I eat at home when I’m feeling lazy (read: every day). If you’re local, it’s available at the Park Avenue Kroger in the frozen case near the Deli (we have a hard time finding organics locally sometimes). I don’t know how Amy’s manages it, but their food is spicy and delicious and tastes like it was prepared with actual fresh ingredients as opposed to a big plate full of MSG-covered unidentifiable crap. Their macaroni and cheese is a meal in itself and the best I think I’ve ever tasted anywhere; their Indian food is perhaps my favorite; their pizzas are divine--the dough has the yeasty wang of homemade. Best of all? I’m only four microwaveable minutes away at any given moment from a mostly guilt-free meal with serious nutritional value.

Today and every day recently, I’m checking out TCM’s amazing “31 Days of Oscar” series—I’ve added a live link in my sidebar that leads to the website. Classic Oscar-winning movies are airing constantly on TCM every day leading up to the Academy Awards on February 22nd. Fortunately, it doesn't much matter if you're late to the party. I’ve taken in “Some Like it Hot”, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, “Funny Face”, and, today, “42nd Street”. Love!

Today, I enjoyed sunny, windy sixty-six degree temperatures and took the time to examine the formerly beautifully shaped Redbud tree in my front yard. It seemed hopelessly damaged by the storm a few weeks ago having lost at least a third of its branches to the overwhelming weight of the evil ice. Since then, however, it seems to have rebounded and I now think the tree will live to bloom again.

Today, I smelled spring in the air for the first time.