2006 : Reflections

While the hubby doesn't really understand my New Year's nostalgia, (he doesn't really get into celebrating New Year's Eve), I can't help but feel the urge to look back on my year and think about all that's happened in 2006. Since tonight is going to be a quiet one (I'm not feeling too great and Chris has to be at work tomorrow morning, so no celebrating for us), I figure now is a good time to do all that reflecting. For brevity's sake, I'll do it in the form of some lists.

The Big Stuff

→ I lost my grandfather (dad's dad) in March. Missed the funeral because the death was sudden and I was in New York City already.

→ I lost my other grandfather (mom's dad) in July. We knew it was going to happen, so I was able to get up to Indiana in time to say goodbye and be there for the funeral.

→ I was able to reconnect with my cousins in Indiana while I was there, which was a real blessing.

→ In November I gained a sister-in-law when my brother got hitched.

Number of weddings attended: 4 (Jean Clark's, Tiffany Crenshaw's, Nahum & Melissa's, and my brother's)

Number of funerals attended: 1

I went to Art Museums or Galleries in:

→ New York City (too many to count in too few days)

→ Philadelphia (Philadephia Museum and a couple galleries)

→ Washington, DC (Hirshorn and National Gallery, mainly)

→ Atlanta (The High Museum, twice)

→ Savannah (the new Telfair, 3 or 4 times)

→ Gainesville (The Harn)

I went to a concert in:

→ New York City (Camera Obscura)

→ Atlanta (Sufjan Stevens)

→ Jacksonville (mewithoutYou, Anathallo)

→ Gainesville (Less Than Jake)

Places I visited WITHOUT going to galleries or concerts:

→ Columbia, SC

→ Indiana

→ West Virginia

→ Lakeland, FL

→ Fort Myers, FL

I went to one film festival (Savannah Film Fest), and took too many road trips to count between movie-related trips, funerals, weddings, concerts, and our vacation in March. I don't even want to THINK about how many miles we put on the car.

2007 : Projections

As for what 2007 has in store, only God knows where we will be at the end of next year and what all will have taken place. So far we know to plan on one wedding in February, and one film festival in February. We are hoping for more film festivals to add to the list (only time will tell). As for travels, again only time will tell, but I'm hoping that 2007 will grant us the opportunity to at least visit the west coast, perhaps making it to Seattle, Portland, and/or San Franscisco. Guess I'll have to start living the year to find out!

Happy 2007 everyone!

Package In The Mail

Today we got a package in the mail from Chris's dad in Texas. If anyone knows anything about my husband Chris, then you know he's a collector. If anyone has ever been in our house, then you know our house is filled with stuff. But you haven't seen anything until you've seen his dad's house in Texas... this is where he gets his collecting bug. To illustrate, I give you Exhibit A, the Box We Got in the Mail Today.

Some of the things in this box include:

• dead Japanese Beatles (2)


• Dead locusts (3 or so)


• a little toy girl without a head


• patch for Handyman Club of America: Life Member


• pencils


• Envelope full of feathers


• boxes of feathers


• a coupon for One Hug


• little labels in french


• Wasp Nests (3)


• two bottle caps for Orange Crush


• one little yellow bullet?


• dried sunflower heads (the note says I used a paint Brush To Remove The Fuzzy stuff on The sunFlower. It's still good Bird Food. Recycle.


• antlers


• part of a skull from an animal with big flat teeth


• part of a turtle skeleton (?) with a "Barrel Full of Monkeys" toy in it (the note said: Behold "Creature Man" alias "Too Face" Looks like he ate a monkey. poor monkey.)


• Thorns from a Texas Thorn Tree


• One of those seeds covered with white stuff that floats around in the summer(very carefully packaged


• One tiny bird egg


• Some pieces of wheat


• Shell from a bullet


• a Clam shell (I think)

Everything was packaged with much care and deliberately delivered... Chris was thrilled, and I documented everything... the notes are my favorite, so I made sure to take pictures of the notes. All very much fun, quite a change to my day. Last time he sent us stuff, it included a few bird eggs and a couple of birds nests that he attached to very small photo frames... very precious but all stuff we have to be very careful with... I'm not really sure where all this stuff is going to go; we don't have a lot of space (as anyone who has come to see us knows very well). Anyways, Chris wants to do some photographs with some of this stuff, but I dunno when he'll get around to that.

Oh, Internet, we love you.

Well I was feeling a bit stressed today (busy day) until I saw this movie, which has brightened my mood considerably. I don't know why a silly news broadcast from the 90s would make me so happy, but, well, it did. You should watch it. I think it's worth the 5 minutes of your life.