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My fiance laughed when I teared up and told him the photo box he decorated scrap-book style and gave me for our anniversary was the best gift I ever got from him.  He probably finds it humorous because he likely spent $10 on it, a negligible amount relative to what he spends on other gifts for me.  The point is that I L-O-V-E handmade gifts.  It’s right up there with snail mail on my top 10 list of favorite things.

The latest example is the flash drive a friend gave me as my going-away/birthday gift.  The card said not to look at the contents until I was on the plane to London.  Unfortunately, that did not happen thanks to the two months worth of luggage that had to be repacked.  I found it in my checked suitcase as I was unpacking in my new home and plugged it into my laptop.  Low and behold, pictures from years ago of us and some of her miscellaneous favorites.  I especially like the one of her and I in stocking caps at a wig/costume store.  How about the one of the tacky birthday cake we made for ourselves that says, “Happy Birthday Jesus and Hitler’s Wife” (long college spring break story)?

I laughed, reminisced and asked myself, “What the hell?” a few times.  Those are the best gifts; smile makers.

I would be a sloth.

• Advantage #1: It’s to your advantage to be slow moving.
• Advantage #2: Who doesn’t like climbing trees?
• Advantage #3: Women pay fortunes to get your natural hair color.
• Advantage #4: Being a vegetarian does not equal anemia.

Ironically, I’ve found that being happy keeps me away from my computer (hmm, I wonder what that says about the past 2 years).  And well, I’ve been moving.  That’s right, I am now a proud resident of Cincinnati, Ohio.

I was sad to leave the coolest apartment in the coolest neighborhood in Louisville, but I’m excited about my new digs, and especially my new housemate.  I’m not into the Reds, Skyline Chili or Graeter’s Ice Cream (that’s a lie, but I’ve given up sweets until further notice).  However, I am loving the parks, and the arts scene and the nearby IKEA.

Here’s to clean slates and new beginnings!

I don’t have a TV. I don’t want one. There are better ways to spend my time and I always feel like I’ve wasted part of my life when I get sucked into spending a few hours in front of a screen.  Now there is scientific research that validates my personal take on the topic.  A New York Times article titled, “What Happy People Don’t Do” states,

“We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” Dr. Robinson said. “TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.”

Now, if I can just extract myself from my computer more often…

Yeeeeaaaah! What a great illustration by Patrick Moberg (www.patrickmoberg.com).

My friend Gill Holland sent this to me, and since everything he’s involved in/promotes is inevitably cool, I thought I would pass it along.

This video is a little slow at first, but I was definitely laughing out loud by the time Sarah Silverman said she was going to take her bra off under her shirt while she waited for her viewers to register to vote. Oh, and the message is of course very noteworthy. Pass it on.

I didn’t have time to get involved in this wonderful project (organized through the Kentucky Foundation for Women and funded by an anonymous donor), but I am so proud of the women/artists who did.  WFPL aired a story about the project yesterday:

Jails aren’t pretty, and their not supposed to be. But now jails have programs to help inmates turn their lives around, and in Louisville art is part of the mix.

Click here to listen to the story.  A big “Well done! ” to my artistic colleagues who shared their time and talent to bring art to the jail visitors (especially the children): Mary Yates, Terry Wunderlich, Joyce Ogden, and more.

If you’re having the kind of week where finding good things to highlight are hard to come by, you can always look at the bad and remember that it could be worse.  Here’s a shot at it:

The residual affect of hurricane Ike have left most of the fellow Louisvillians I know without power for going on 5 days now (including myself).  BUT it could be worse if I didn’t have gas and was taking a cold shower like so many of my friends; not to mention my gas stove has prevented me from living on peanut butter.

Secondly, for as much as I’ve bitched about the debris in the road, detours, and powerless stop lights, it could have been worse if this had been my car and not my neighbor’s.

See, I have a lot to be happy about!

Here are a few highlights from Saturday’s face painting party (and here are all of the photos)

The concept was a tough sell at first, but clearly everyone caught on and loosened up by the end of the night (wine, beer, mojitos, sangria, and lemonade/vodka will do that).