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franceswu
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OK, I'll apologize up front for gratuitous bragging about my spouse. We typically do our grocery shopping on Tuesday night after work. This is sometimes a bit torturous since we are inclined to be a bit cranky and tired as we struggle through making out a grocery list and then make our way through the throng at Schnucks right before dinner. Then we typically come home and cook in a kitchen that is less than functional in it's messiness. In order to make the process easier this week, we were talking on Monday night and agreed ahead of time about splitting up chores for Tuesday. He made the grocery list during the day and e-mailed it to me. So I printed it and went to the grocery store alone. While I was shopping, he unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher, took out the trash, cleaned off the counter tops and the table and started running laundry. After I got home, he helped me bring in groceries and I cooked dinner. We managed to have a nice dinner at the table by about 7:30 with no arguments, frustration or irritation on anyone's part. It was fantastic. Later on that evening, as I was thanking him for all the help with housework, he stopped me and said, "So basically what you mean is, thank you for doing what a husband is supposed to do." I was caught off guard for a moment and then thought, "wow, thank you God for sending me such a great spouse". Additionally I would say, thank you Mary Beth and Garry for raising Duncan to be a good husband. Oh yeah, and he also does sweet stuff like warming up my side of the mattress while I"m getting ready for bed at night. :)
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work |
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 sleepy |
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"Paint it Black" ~ Sixth Finger | |
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I've been feeling kind of stressed out lately thanks to the impending wedding. Last minute details are such a pain to try to all get tacked down. However I am still really excited about getting married in 18 days. It feels a little surreal that it is so soon. It's not really helping that I took on an extra project for work last month that is turning into a lot more work and stress than I had anticipated. So in an attempt to be more positive I've decided to list off all the things that I am happy, excited and/or grateful for today. 1. I'm happy to be able to earn extra money through work, even if it does add to my stress levels.
2. I'm excited that I have so much of the planning part of my wedding completed and I'm very excited to see the whole thing come together soon.
3. Our friends and family have been very generous in our wedding gifts and that has been very touching to us.
4. We found out yesterday that a former roommate of mine is coming from Pittsburgh for the wedding. Since I haven't seen her in several years, I"m pretty thrilled by this.
5. We also found out that Duncan's maternal grandmother is going to be there for the wedding. She is older and has been in deteriorating health and there has been some question of whether or not she would be up for the trip. So we're very pleased that she'll be with us.
6. My bachelorette party is this Friday and I"m excited to see folks and go out for a good time.
7. I'm up to date for the moment on my thank you notes.
8. Our wedding bands turned out more beautifully than I had anticipated they would. I can't wait to get to wear it every day.
9. My future sister in law is in the process of buying a house on Cape Cod and I"m very excited about the prospect of getting to go visit her both there and in Boston.
10. I've been having a blast putting together Duncan's wedding gift and I'm very touched by all the help I've been getting from family members in assembling it.
11. I found out this morning that my friend who does my hair is doing my hair and make up for me as my wedding present. This is a very generous gift as she's traveling to do my hair and make up for the wedding.
12. I genuinely enjoy spending time with Duncan every day. I couldn't be happier about the notion that I"m marrying someone who I so thoroughly enjoy talking to and doing the daily tasks of life with.
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work |
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 pleased |
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"Smooth Operator" Sade | |
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I"m always bouncing back and forth between being an E and an I. Odd
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It made me significantly more sad than I would have assumed it would to read this this morning. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_en_tv/obit_george_carlin I remember being in one of the computer labs at Wash U as an undergrad and I was working really hard trying to finish a paper. So I was stressed out and someone sent me a link to a George Carlin stand up routine. I laughed till tears ran down my face. I laughed so much that the guy sitting next to me asked what in the world I was watching. It was a welcome moment of relief and that was something that Carlin's comedy could often do. He made squirm inducing social commentary both incredibly insightful and unbelievably funny. I will miss seeing him produce new work.
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work |
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The air conditioner was on the fritz yesterday morning, just in time for a really hot mid-June Memphis day. It wasn't so hot that I felt like I was swimming through the air quite yet, but I can feel that it's coming soon. I managed to contact the landlord and get the air conditioner fixed by the time I got home yesterday afternoon, but it had just come on when I got there, so it was still pretty warm when I was contemplating cooking dinner. All of this is a long way around to say that the soup I had been planning on making did not seem nearly as appetizing once I got home as I had thought it would earlier in the day. Soup, even of the incredibly tasty cheesy variety that's flavored with sherry, is just not appetizing when it's hot out if you don't have a functional air conditioner. So I was incredibly happy when my beloved showed up from work, slightly later than expected, because he had thoughtfully stopped by the grocery to buy the ingredients he needed to make us pork chops braised in a citrus fruit sauce with saffron rice and green beans for dinner. I rather dislike cleaning up my kitchen, so it had been some time last weekend since I had managed to unload and reload the dishwasher the last time. Duncan, not only cooked dinner, but he also cleaned the kitchen after we got done eating. Since he had done all of these lovely things, he argued that he deserved affection for his efforts. I couldn't disagree with him and I have to say that once again, he has confirmed the wisdom of deciding to keep him for the next 60 years or so.
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work |
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cheerful |
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Vicente Amigo "Morente" | |
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The last few weeks have been absolutely exhausting. I nearly cried this morning when my Mom called me to tell me I need to come to town to talk to the florist to pick out flowers for my wedding. It's not that I don't care, but we've been beating a hot path up and down 55 from Memphis to Hattiesburg and from Memphis to Jackson on 40 and living out of a suitcase over the last few weeks. Happily I convinced her that I do not need to come talk to vendors until after I've gotten myself moved on the 17th and we've been to the beach and back at the end of the month. I'm not complaining about the enjoyable time we've had visiting family. It has been wonderful. I am complaining because everything I have going on right now is really stressing me out. If I'm not at work trying to be productive while worrying about getting everything else done, I'm at home dealing with moving or wedding related stuff and wondering if I'm getting enough done at work. My brother commented to me this morning that it sounds like I've been living in the spin cycle and I realized that that feels apropos. It just seems that most of life is a never ending series of tasks that I'll never quite have completed. I'm sure that there will be stuff in my inbox on the day after I die, but the reality that I'm not really getting to enjoy most of the process of planning my wedding cause I'm wedging it into the rest of my life is irking the snot out of me. Heck at this point, I'd settle for just feeling that I was getting to enjoy most any part of my day. In spite of needing to pack I've promised myself the right to sleep in this Saturday and I fully intend to keep that promise. I will be so grateful when I've made it past October and then all I have to do is enjoy my daily life again and not kill myself trying to arrange the transition state.
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exhausted |
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Immaculate Machine "Jarhand" | |
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"Reply to this post, and I will list three things I love about you. Maybe more than three. Then repost to your own journal and spread the love." |
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So for those of you not attached to me on Facebook, I"m engaged! Yes, I'm terribly excited and my ring is really beautiful.
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 enthralled | |
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For some odd reason I had never really looked at Forever 21's clothes before today. I realized after doing so that every item of clothing I currently desire is there at a remarkably affordable price.
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work |
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chipper |
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"A Piece of the Action" The Babys | |
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Search Google Images for the answer to each, and choose a pic from the first page of results. ( Read more... )</div>
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work |
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 tired |
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"Should be Easy" Lemon Fresh Kids | |
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( Much Silliness )
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work |
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lazy |
Current Music: |
"Born Losers" ~ Matthew Good | |
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What's Your Karaoke Theme Song? Your Karaoke Theme Song is "Since U Been Gone"
You are a very expressive and genuine person.
You're not so emotional that you wear your heart on your sleeve - but you're not afraid to show how you're truly feeling. Whether you're singing along in the car or singing on stage, your favorite songs make you get a little carried away.
You're definitely the type most likely to dream of becoming a rock star! You might also sing: "Livin' La Vida Loca," "I Will Survive," or "Hollaback Girl" Stay away from people who sing: "I'll Make Love to You "http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourkaraokethemesongquiz/"
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work |
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amused |
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"Sorry to a Friend" ~ Edwin McCain | |
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These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users (as of today). As usual, bold what you have read, italicize those you started but couldn't finish, and strike through what you couldn't stand. Add an asterisk to those you've read more than once. Underline those on your to-read list.
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Work |
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sleepy |
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"Wish I" ~ Jem | |
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These are 5 things from my interests list and why I like them. If you respond, I"ll pick 5 things from your interest list to ask you to explain why you like them to me. 1. tennessee walking horses I started riding walking horses when I was 12. My Mom grew up with horses and my sister and I had always enjoyed riding when we'd done trail riding when we were younger. So when my Mom found a place to take riding lessons we were both interested. I spent a good deal of my time in high school at our barn taking care of our horses and riding. It provided me with a sport, a hobby and a regular social outlet all through high school. 2. robert earl keen Robert Early Keen is a singer from Texas who sings alt country. Seth introduced me to his music shortly after we started dating. Beyond the fact that his overall musical style is basically infectious he also has extremely clever lyrics. I"m a sucker for clever lyrics. 3. progressive era The progressive era is my main period of interest as a historian. Most of my major pieces have been about some aspect of the period. I find it fascinating as a time period particularly in women's history because it was the major period when women's private volunteering and social causes took on a political dimension. As a result, a great deal of our current social policy particularly for women and families originated in this period. Women were also enfranchised during the Progressive Era and that has a good deal of interplay with the flourishing of women's organized political activism. 4. kasey chambers Kasey Chambers is an Australian singer. I was also introduced to her by Seth while we were dating. She has a fabulously expressive voice and again she's a great lyricist. 5. art deco I've enjoyed Art Deco design most of my life. I love the use of geometry, symmetry, natural materials and the sensibilities of fusing man made structures with their natural environment that dominated thinking in architecture and design in this period. It is also, ironically, the stylistic period that roughly corresponds to the Progressive Era.
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sleepy | |
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home |
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Paula Dean | |
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Hi, it's Tim from Pandora, I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora. In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us. Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541 Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better. Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential. I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies. As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support. tim_signature.jpg
-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)
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work |
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sleepy |
Current Music: |
"Second Wind" Rise Ashen | |
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After an awful day of traveling yesterday we finally made it to Montana at about 1:00 a.m this morning. To put this in context, we got up at 3:30 a.m. the morning before to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight to Minneapolis where we caught an 8:15 flight to Kalispell, Montana that would have had us here by about 1:00 p.m. Unfortunately, there were mechanical problems with the landing gear that they were concerned enough with that we turned the plane around about 2/3rds of the way here and flew all the way back to Minneapolis. We then spent the next 9 hours drinking, window shopping, eating, watching movies and trying to catch some sleep in awful airport chairs while we waited for the next flight out. To Northwest's credit they had re-routed everyone on the plane by the time we walked off the boarding ramp in Minneapolis. We also got 11,000 frequent flier miles for the hassle of having to endure the hassle of turning around etc. Needless to say we were extremely happy to crawl into bed last night and sleep very deeply till we got up this morning around 10. So far we've managed to drive in to Whitefish, wander around and find out when the local brewery does tours, and drive around to surrounding towns to tour and eat lunch. We've seen gorgeous mountains, complete with 3 different snow showers and a river carving through the middle of them. There are also multiple things with very entertaining names and signs that we plan to go back later in the week and take lots of pictures of. I think I'm off to nap and watch the snow some more and later on we're going to watch a show about grizzly bears and sit in the hot tub after dinner.
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Montana |
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relaxed |
Current Music: |
the background music for Zelda | |
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I just got home from my 2nd successful conference appearance. My paper was well received and it was definitely nicer to have an easy time traveling and to get to really spend time listening to other people's papers and getting to know my colleagues I was presenting with. The conference organizer is trying to get our papers published as a compilation, but the key note speaker also offered to consider my paper for publication in a journal her department edits and referees. She also suggested that she'd give me a spot in her Ph.D. program if I wanted to come to SLU and work with her. I wasn't sure if she necessarily could just do that until I looked at the copy of her business card she gave me and realized she's their department chair. We had a good time post symposium talking about progressive era federal legislation. Yeah I know that makes me a dork but it also made me happy. I also had a wonderful time staying with friends while I was there. It was great to get to see them and to have dinner, hang out etc. as part of my weekend. And of course, the news that is the title of the posting. I checked my cell phone messages after I got home a few minutes ago to find that my sister had a little boy at about 9 a.m. this morning in San Antonio. He was 10 days early so a bit of a surprise, but he's 8 lbs. 2 oz., 18 inches long and they named him Charles. I'm really excited. :)
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happy | |
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franceswu's journal
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