clevergirl

I am a 40-year-old (not sure when that happened, because I feel like I'm still 23) woman, transplanted from all over to a suburb of Chattanooga TN. I'm married to my best friend (hokey I know, but true) and work from home doing medical transcription. Since my work does not really allow for much creativity, I enjoy spending my free time with more fun, creative endeavors.

I have been on a vampire kick lately, but I am a little freaked out that so many of them are listed under ROMANCE. I enjoy reading "mindscrubbers" in between vampire books to cleanse my mental palate. Most of these are much more serious, literary type novels.

Wow, with so many to choose from, it's really hard to limit myself to a favorite. I love to draw, make jewelry, collage, etc. However, I am pretty terrible at oil painting. I even took a class and I still suck. I would love to learn to watercolor, but that's on the list of stuff I wish I knew how to do.

Being creative is something that takes me away when my day-to-day life is just dragging me down. I enjoy creating for others rather than myself and love to give away handmade gits (just ask my friends and family). I also enjoy seeing into the minds of others by seeing their artwork. Some minds are dark and scary and some never made it past maybe sixth-grade or so. Either way, I love to see other people's stuff.

wiener dogs (I have three - Craig and Bella and their baby Ozzy).

the THX sound effect

The Matrix

winter weather - I must have written this in the summer because it is colder than dammit and I don't know what possessed me to write this.

monsters and the occult

Gerber daisies

red toenail polish

finding forgotten money in a pair of pants

sleeping in on the weekends

lime green and pale blue

oatmeal for breakfast

"Saving Grace" with Holly Hunter

yard sales

an ice cold beer on a hot, hot day

pay day

Twix candy bars

wearing flip-flops all year (even in the winter)

purses (because they always fit) - finally had to put the kibbosh on buying anymore since I found a bag in the attic of purses I forgot I had.

seeing movies at the IMAX - Just remember my cardinal rule of the IMAX - sit as far in the back as they will let you. (I saw Star Trek a few months back and dang, Spock (Sylar - from Heroes) really has some bushy eyebrows.

fresh vegetables from our garden

bacon ("meat candy" as my husband calls it) - See Operation Skinny Girl.

Santa Christmas ornaments (hoping to have nothing but lights and Santa on the tree)

puppy breath - just something so sweet about it.

football season

thrift stores

"bimbo" shows like "Rock Of Love"

visiting museums while on vacation - even lame ones that are really just a room or two in some old ladies house with pictures of her grandfather who was a ship captain during the Civil War.

singing at the top of my lungs when I am alone in the car - usually to something completely inappropriate to my age like Miley Cyrus. I mean should a woman who is nearly 40 know the words to Party in the USA???

the '20's and '30 Art Deco - I love Erte and think it's amazing that he was an illustrator for Conde Nast.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (I grew up in suburban New Jersey and would cut school, take the train into the city and go to the Met - kinda dorky - most kids cut school to party, but I go to a museum).

All vampire movies - even the really, really bad stinky ones.

well - never met a candy I didn't like (except grape-flavored - yuck - see below).

Harlequin-style romance novels (although the occasional chick-lit is good by me)

western movies- although oddly enough I like cowboy and western stuff, especially vintage.

the humidity in the south (I live in Georgia)

Capodimonte - my grandmother's house was filled with the stuff - It's the stuff of nightmares - I had a dream as a kid that I was stuck inside one of the yellow roses on one of my grandmother's vases. Scary stuff.

lemon desserts - yet still like lemon candy

getting bills in the mail (and nothing else)

grocery shopping

most abstract art (I guess I am just too literal minded to try to "see" what the artist means - I kinda like to know that it's a girl with a yellow bonnet holding a lamb)

Civil War memorabilia - I live near the Chickamauga Battlefield and there is not a shortage of Civil War stuff around - just bores me to tears

incense - makes me sneeze (probably one of the reasons I didn't stay a Buddhist).

Hummers - what a waste of gas

Anything grape flavored - I was a sickly kid and had to take Dimetapp (yep, grape flavored) A LOT. Memories of standing over the kitchen sink with the little cup in one hand and a saltine cracker in the other.

super serious people - I know not everything is a joke, but for Pete's sake, lighten up already.

Well - it has come to my attention (via not being able to wear any of my clothes and getting winded just going up a flight of stairs) that my butt is getting enormous. And not in a rap music video girl way. So, I have decided to go back on a diet and start working out. So far so good. But did I mention that this sucks. I will try to keep my no carb having bitchy comments to a minimum. I will try to take all my frustrations out on crappy drivers instead. LOL.

Update on Operation Skinny Girl 1/4/10 - This is a failed operation. I suppose it was the peppermint bark and the mashed potatoes and gravy and the Chex mix and the homemade cookies, etc. You get the picture. Like many of my fellow resolution-makers, I am going to try again in the new year. Wish me luck and please don't mail me candy - I can't resist and can't bear to throw even bad candy out (does that make me a candy-hoarder?)

Operation Skinny Girl 2.0 01/15/2011 - Once again the new year brings me to revisit this op. The hubs and I are doing P90X and let me tell you, I am freaking exhausted. Hopefully, this will finally be a completed mission this year.