Which Austen Heroine Are You?

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of silliness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

Take the Quiz here!

The Folklife Festival

I look forward to Memorial Day Weekend every year. Not just because it marks the approaching of the glorious summer months, but because of the annual Folklife Festival held at the Seattle Center. I LOVE Folklife. My husband and most of my male friends can't stand it. They can't deal with the big crowds and the unpleasant odors (unshowered hippies and patchouli). Personally, I thrive in the energy created by big crowds. And the food is something anyone can get excited about! The first thing we do upon arrival is case out the food booths. Then we decide on all the courses we'll be trying so we can space them properly throughout the day. That way we'll be sure to have (barely) enough room in our stomachs for everything that appeals to us. There are hundreds of performers throughout the weekend, each representing different world cultures. There's the international food village, sidewalk artists, a worldwide crafts marketplace. They have on-going dance and music workshops and The Roadhouse keeps a band playing till midnight for partner dancing. ALL FREE. (except for the food of course) When it's hot we'll run through the big fountain. WET T-SHIRT CONTEST! WHOO HOOO! *That was my frat boy impression* My favorite part, however, is the drum circle. It meets on the grass under the Space Needle. Over a hundred percussionists get together with all their various instruments and just jam. Rhythm for HOURS. All the hippies come out dressed in character and do bong-pipe dances all around the circle. We normal people go and dance too. It's fantastic fun; especially after the sun sets. It was a great addition to my weekend. I can't wait for next year.

BOOOOOOOO!

PIRATES. A word that (thanks to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean ), gives me happy shivers. I think it's safe to say that I am a HUGE fan. There are no words to describe how excited I've been to see At World's End . Captain Jack Sparrow has been the wallpaper on my computer & my phone. The Pirates theme has been my ringtone. The music and slideshows on Myspace have been Pirates of the Caribbean all week. I had a party planned on opening weekend to see the movie with several friends. A lot of us came dressed a pirates. I wore my "I Love Jack" wristband and my necklace of Cursed Aztec Gold. We stood in long lines and waited in mediocre seats with big, open mouthed permagrins on our faces.

Maybe I've been looking forward to it a little too much. That's never a good idea. Throughout the course of the movie, my smile slowly faded and ultimately changed to an expression of rage. I can't BELIEVE what the writers did with my beloved characters!!!
I was so upset that I almost cried. I won't go into more detail for those who've not yet seen the movie. But, Pirates Fans... ye be warned.

SAM grows up

The New Seattle Art Museum ~ or SAM, to it's friends. I went to see it the weekend after it reopened. There was a lot to be impressed with. And a lot that leaves me with nothing to say but..... huuuuh?








The most baffling piece for me had to be the exhibit in the lobby entitled "Inopportune". It consisted of 8 or 9 white 1990-something Ford Taurus's, most of them suspended from the ceiling, with several neon light-filled, plastic tubes shooting out of them in every which direction. The artist says that he was thinking about suicide bombers; about how terrorism takes place in the middle of an ordinary day, and how we go on afterward. Again: HUUUUUH?


My personal favorite piece in the museum was Some/One by Do-Ho Suh. It was a sculpture of a large robe made of 100,000 military dog tags. It probably stood 8 feet tall and then spread around the floor in 15' circle! The inside of the jacket was lined with copper that acted as a mirror. The artist said each little dog tag symbolizes each individual’s identity. These many dog tags create this one, larger-than-life figure. His hope was for people to approach the installment from behind, to walk on and around all the dog tags to the front of the piece where you would see the reflection of yourself inside the robe, thus becoming a part of the piece. The odd metal and lighting in the reflection makes you feel like there is another dimension inside. It was actually a profoundly moving experience for me; just the way art is intended to be. I'll bet you anything someone else felt that moved by the weird car installment that I didn't relate to. That's the beauty of art. Every piece finds a home in some one's heart.

Are you guys done?

I recently went to visit a friend and her newborn. I'd forgotten how small they are on day one! This little guy makes my babies look like college grads! For the first hour I rocked him, paced with him and cooed at him; just enjoying the sweet baby smell and the petal soft skin. Then my friend asked me, "Is this making you want another one or is it birth control?"

What is it about spending time with a newborn that invokes such extreme responses in people. I didn't think I was having an extreme response ... until I left. After just a few hours I was EXHAUSTED. And the baby was in relatively good spirits throughout my visit! Jonathan's best friend just had a baby too, and he has the same reaction to their little guy. And so, after a year of internal debate, I am publishing my official response to the question SO MANY are compelled to ask: Yes, we are done. It's a relief to know for sure. But somehow, it feels sad too. I guess I'm just so crazy about my kids... It's not hard to imagine falling in love with another one. But after that brief visit, I'm pretty sure ... I COULDN'T SURVIVE IT AGAIN!

Scheduling Spontaneity

Having been married for seven years now, date nights are getting further and further apart. Part of it might be that we see each other every darn day, so a getaway from life often includes a getaway from each other. But that falls in 5% of the reasoning. The other 95% is the cost of a babysitter! Did you know that babysitters make up to $10.00 an hour now?! And they don't even do anything but put the kids in bed and watch movies! When I was a kid we had to account for all our time with the children, clean the entire house, and were lucky to make $5 bucks off of the entire night. But now, Jonathan and I are lucky to get out of the house for less than $50.00.

Well, last weekend my parents came up to spoil the grand kids for a day. Consequentially, Jonathan and I got spoiled too; 8 hours of free daylight babysitting! We went to Seattle and frolicked about like teenagers. Shopping, roller coasters, good food, Dance Dance Revolution wars... We didn't have a plan and didn't want one. I miss the spontaneity of single life. It was nice to revisit that for a Saturday. Thanks Mom and Dad!

The ARTIST

My friend Kristee has just been signed with a modeling agency. She had to have head shots taken for her portfolio and asked me to style her for them. I LOVE it when that happens! She needed me on a weekend that was already over-scheduled which, from the outside, might look like a stressful thing. But NOT FOR ME! It completely unwound me. My goal was to use the makeup to highlight her features. I didn't want it to look heavy or "dramatic", but it needed to be dark enough to photograph well. I feel like I accomplished just that. She looked beautiful.

Who's your twin dog?

Have you ever seen the old Disney movie, 101 Dalmations? The opening scene includes a moment where Pongo the dog is trying to learn how to judge human beauty. As he watched a procession of dogs go by with their owners, he was able to judge the human by looking at the dog they were with. This brings up a point that my friend Jihan made on her blog: PEOPLE TEND TO LOOK LIKE THEIR DOGS! She posed the question, "What kind of a dog would you be?" After a bit of reflection, I decided that I am a Golden Retriever. We look alike and even have similar personalities. We're cheerful, friendly, and rather high maintainance; requiring much attention and grooming time! My doggie name would have to be Honey, for my coloring and my sweetness (tehe). The name is sealed by the fact that Honey in Greek is "Melina" (the letters of my human name)!












What kind of a dog would you be? What would your doggie name be?

Mothers Day in Manolo's

I suppose I don't fit the typical mold of a Mother-of-Three. I wear 4 inch designer stilettos and stay out all night dancing with my girlfriends. My daughter woke me up this Mother's Day morning by playing a song that makes her think of me. Girls Aloud ~ It Freaks Me Out; a bubblegum teeny-bopper song about teenage angst. Should that remind an 8 year old girl of her 30 year old mother? Maybe not. Should I have been expecting a cook book and a Kitchenaid Mixer? Perhaps. But, being who I am, I'm in love with the 30 gig Ipod my husband gave me, the flowers and cards from my kids, and the sweet text messages I got from my favorite friends. Am I a little unorthodox? YES. And it's totally working for me.

The Music Matters

I went to an 80's themed party with my friends this weekend. Costumes, music, decor; all with an 80's flare. As much as I love clubbing with my friends, I think the sexy music and dance style of The Now has officially been dethroned by The 80's! It's so cheerful and the clothes are so ugly... it might be completely impossible to be sexy at a dance party like this. That takes a lot of pressure off! I can't tell you how much fun it was to hop around, do those ridiculous 80's dance steps (aka Running Man, the Molly, the Hammer Dance, the Robot...) and let the words of the songs choreograph the dance for me. Of COURSE you have to sing them at the top of your lungs while you dance. Get 100 people in a room all doing this and you've got yourself one amazing party.

Arguably, the best part of a theme party is getting ready for it. I found all my spectacular vintage 80's rags at Red Light in the U-District. That should always be your first stop when you're costume shopping. Jihan came over a couple hours early and we got ready together. It's hard not to laugh out loud when you spend so much time getting ready and end up looking SO TACKY! The 80's were wrong on so many levels and I'm glad it's over! But I'm also SO GLAD IT HAPPENED!