AliThinks

Reason # 832 Why I Love Lexington

I have a soft spot for this book shop.

I Should Have Taken A Photo Of My Boots

Oh wait, I did.

I love Pops Resale.

We're OK

We are among the lucky in Kentucky. (Excuse me while I giggle for a minute because of the whole "gettin' lucky in Kentucky" thing.)

We haven't lost power, or any tree branches, or anything like that. Yesterday we walked around the neighborhood and took some photos. You can see my photos here; Allan's are here.

Today the street behind us lost power when the crews were clearing trees.

Yes, we're fortunate.

New Year's Eve at Rite-Aid

I tell ya, this place is teeming with people, conversations, and things that make me laugh. Case in point:

The guy in front of me in line was buying a huge honkin' bottle of bourbon...and a pint of Listerine.

In Which I Speak My Mind

Usually the "In Which" blog posts are my own videos. This time I'm going to direct you to a video created by David Stephenson of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

I don't appear in the video, so you can all calm down right now. However, my thoughts on the subject at hand became one of the voice-overs. Allan's thoughts were recorded and posted too. An opposing point of view was recorded as well; it's the first voice you hear. (And no, I don't know who it is.)

I haven't written much about what's happening in downtown Lexington here, partly because in the months leading up to the wedding my head fell off several times. (I'm not kidding.) The other reason is that it's a painful subject for me, even though Lexington has been my home for only two and a half years.

Tom Eblen's columns on the subject are measured. Reasonable. My friends at Barefoot & Progressive have not held back, on the other hand.

But today? Joel Pett stole my heart with this editorial cartoon. (A larger version is available if you click on the cartoon itself.)

If you're interested, you can click those links to get a sense of what's going on. If you just want to hear my teary voice, click here. (By the way, we were interviewed just after leaving Thursday Night Live, an outdoor summer concert series...which takes place a block from where the scoops and bulldozers were doing their work. The machines started up just as the concert was ending. Nice, right? And this was the last of the buildings on the block to go. So it was especially poignant.)

Farewell to The Dame

Farewell to The Dame, originally uploaded by Alison.

Tonight The Swells and Hot Club of Cowtown performed at The Dame*, which will close its doors in an hour or two (it's 1 am as I write this).

Lexington has lost something special. I'm too tired to write about it now. More photos and commentary to come.

*The Dame's MySpace page actually has more info; you can see a list of musicians who have performed there and get an idea of what a HOLE the closing of The Dame is going to leave.

Local

During the course of the weekend's events, I had the pleasant experience of being recognized by no less than three people. They either read my blog (Hi, Ashley!) or knew me from Flickr.

I must say, that felt pretty good. I've lived here for two years now, but only recently have I begun to realize how important local connections can be. I mean, I have local friends, but I think I'm starting to build a network.

Yokel*

This past week has proved to me, not that I ever doubted it, that this is one cool town. Besides the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club concert last Saturday, we've been to two other concert events this week, (one at our friend Lolli's shop, Isle Of You) and we'll attend an all-day music festival tomorrow.

The week's events were part of WRFL's 20th anniversary celebration. The student-run station went on the air on March 7, 1988 (I was already DJing at my alma mater! I'm OLD!) and has run continuously since. It was the first station in Lexington to play metal, rap, and hip-hop, and it did not shun the bluegrass music, oh no. Ashley Judd had a show on WRFL, and many of the other DJs/founding members have gone on to various creative careers around the nation.

Anyway, having been a DJ at my college, I'm pretty excited by all the events in Lexington this week. I should have some photos up on Flickr soon.

*I don't think I'm a yokel. I was just trying to rhyme with LOCAL. I'm actually rather erudite cultured. You know, like yogurt, only not quite as tangy.

Blue Stars And Moons

It has been raining for three days. The stress I have alluded to is compounded by the weather. I didn't sign up for this! 

Writing it down, exploring it, will take a while, especially if I keep feeling like this. Today was one of those days where you just want to stay in bed. I didn't, but I didn't do everything I'd planned to, either.

This afternoon I said to Allan, "Let's go to Walgreen's or something and get some nice fluorescent light on our faces." We browsed the aisles, just enjoying the bright lights, when I saw some Elmer's Shimmering Shapes Glaze. I checked it out, returned it to the shelf, and walked away. Five seconds later I decided to buy the stuff. I have that ongoing scrapbook project for my kids (and I really need to start it) and this stuff will be a cool thing to use.

I felt great when we left the store. I do believe the artificial lights at Walgreen's made a difference in my attitude.

Originally posted on my Flickr daily diary.

Chuckle

Seen on a tag at Pops Resale:

Very very old cookie jar!

$9.95

Includes crack

I Forgot To Charge My Battery

...but my camera held up during the UK Basketball game tonight.

Entire Flickr Photo Set here.

Edit: By the way, UK beat Santa Clara University, 74-60. I almost didn't get to take my camera into Rupp Arena with me; the security guard told me it was "borderline professional." Then she looked at my ticket and said "And you're pretty close to the floor, too."

She asked what kind of camera it was, and I told her, "It's a Nikon D50. No professional would use this," but the length of the stock lens bugged her. I showed her how far it stuck out. Finally she let me go through the turnstile.

Next time I'm going to hide the lens in my pocket and just show the camera body, dammit.

Momma Claus

While Allan and I were out and about this afternoon, he noticed some white markings on the pavement. He commented to me that it was a solution designed to melt snow and ice without having to use the salt trucks.

"They must be expecting snow here," he said. "That explains my sinus headache." My head was aching, too. When we were home again, he checked the weather: it's going to get wicked cold tomorrow, with scattered snow showers. Allan used the words "arctic" and "lake effect snow," and that was all I needed to hear.

Unseasonal

It's been warm and sunny for the past two days. Yesterday we did some stuff, which you can read about on Allan's blog. This afternoon we also went out, on foot this time.

First we walked down to Common Grounds and had coffee. We sat out on their back patio area and enjoyed the mild breeze. Charbucks is much closer, but we prefer the ambiance (and the coffee!) at Common Grounds. When the sun was no longer shining on my face, I suggested that we start walking back. We had plenty of time before dark, but I wanted to make a stop on the way home. And we still had to go to Kroger for some things for dinner.

Next we stopped in The Black Market (no website for this eclectic little shop). I love the different kinds of items, jewelry, and clothing here. We spotted a clock we have been wanting to get, and I found just the thing I've been looking for to hold my rings. Bonus!

Feeling good, we left The Black Market and headed for Kroger to get some cheese. We're making pizza for dinner.

The entire time we were out, I just had this grateful feeling. I'm so glad we live in a neighborhood that has access to such local treasures. I'm so glad the weather is beautiful (and as I write this, the sun is just beginning to set). But mostly, I'm grateful to be where I am today. One year ago, I was in Lexington, but it was a week-long visit. Two days later I had to go back to Small Town, France, to my life that didn't have much purpose. Once I realized that I wasn't going to find work besides going back into teaching, I mostly just stayed in my apartment all day long. I did see my kids on the weekends (29 hours straight with them; I calculated). It wasn't all that great. So here I am. I miss my kids like crazy, but I'm happy to be where I am. In a year's time, I hope my kids will live here with us.

Boy, that got all long and rambling, didn't it? All I thought I wanted to say was how much I love living here.

HBT Me!

For my birthday about a month ago, Allan's sister JoAnn gave me a Williams-Sonoma gift card. That was pretty darn cool of her, wasn't it?

Well, this afternoon we went to the W-S store at a nearby mall, and I used my gift card on a stovetop espresso maker. I'm very excited, because I used to have one in France (actually, my ex still has it) and it made the most delicious coffee. Here's a pretty crappy photo of it:

Allan and I also got a very cool new tool for our kitchen. Here's a pretty good photo of it:

Again, I used to have a couple of Le Creuset casseroles when I lived in France (and the ex still has one of them), but they were acquired used, so they were both this bright 70s-era orange. And the handle was broken on the skillet. And the dutch oven had no lid, so...

I am really happy to have this. It makes me want to cook (in fact, we're making a vegetable curry in it right now), plus it goes really well with the mixer.

But First, I Made It Look Like A Flying Saucer.

   

    Mmmm, mmmm, finger-clickin' good.

Irresistible, indeed!

   

     Just click it.

   
We walked to Graeter's after dinner, and we each tried the Black Raspberry Chip ice cream. Next time I'll try the Tangerine Cream, and not just because of the cool name.

Tweaking

After Allan and I went out for Korean food (je yuk bok eum, mmmmm!), we spent the evening doing a little blog rearranging.

I cleaned up my "Other Stuff" list in the sidebar, and then decided that my blogroll was WAY too long. So I've put it on a separate page (created by me! Almost all by myself!); you can access my blogroll(s) by clicking on the link called "Ali's Reads" over there in the sidebar.

I also opened a help ticket to see if someone at Typepad can decipher the IE viewing problem. We'll see what the solutions are. In the meantime, I've made it easier to track how my blog does look in IE by installing this Firefox extension. Right-click, view in IE, and presto! It's a neat tool, so if you have Firefox, why not give it a try?

In the meantime, feedback is welcome. I'm not done with the tweaking yet.

Cocktail, Tea, Me?

What I want to know is, when did the humble coffee table become the "cocktail table"?

We went out browsing today, and at every place we went, those low tables you set in front of a sofa were called "cocktail tables." And even when we asked a sales person about coffee tables, he or she would tell us that the cocktail tables were located all around the store.

Okaaaay. Is this like calling prunes "dried plums"?  Or creme rinse, "conditioner"? Hey, let's sex up the name of this thing so that we can sell it more easily!

Talk To Me, People.

Do you know The Mellow Mushroom? Is there one in your town? Do you like it?

We had dinner there this evening. Pizza and beer, oh, yum. It was my first time there, and I thought the pizza was delish and the atmosphere tip-top.

What did you have for dinner? Are you watching the INXS show on VH1 Classic, too?

What's happening with you?