it's been a while dad

today marks one year since my dad passed away. not really sure how i feel about it or even how i feel about how i feel. i wonder if i'm supposed to be sad? crying? melancholy? mournful?

i definitely miss him, but there was such a sense of relief that he no longer had to fight to stay alive and that i could let my mind rest.

my mom went to visit him today down by the river and she told me that he really likes the wind chime that we put up a few weeks ago. "not too loud and not to girly," she reported :) i decided to spend part of my day doing something that my dad would have done - volunteering at the food bank. delivering lunches and dinners for meals on wheels was one of his great joys in life.

maybe i'll cry tomorrow, but today's been a good day just the way it was.

harry and pippa 2012

i'm starting a campaign to marry off prince harry and pippa middleton. they make a striking couple!

in the name of the father, son and holy spiggot

i didn't get up at 4:00 am, but i have now watched the royal wedding. while it was beautiful, i couldn't help but be completely distracted by my thought that i seen this whole thing once before. no, not the nuptials of charles and diana (although i did get up to watch those - the difference between a 10 year old body and a 39 year old body, i guess); rather one of my favorite movies of all time -

four weddings and a funeral

indulge me before you disagree.

beautiful main characters? check!

goofy rectors? check!

gay friends? check!

john hannah? check!

alright. maybe the pictures haven't convinced you, but watch this scene from four weddings and a funeral and then tell me that i'm wrong.

the wedding of
bernard geoffrey st. john delaney and lydia jane hibbot

there's another great scene where everyone is singing "jerusalem" by charles hubert hastings perry and the camera keys on the characters who are less than impressed with everyone's singing - just like what happened today at westminister abbey.

i rest my case and andi mcdowell and hugh grant should immediately seek royalties from today's broadcast because it was a ripoff!

god save the queen.

* i didn't want to taint my analysis with pettiness, but someone HAS to talk to the archbishop about those eyebrows! i know he's sort of a big deal in the church of england and all, but he was marrying the future king and queen. he didn't have to cut them, but a little gel wouldn't have hurt.

yeah for friends and family abroad!

a cousin living in japan and friends living in guatemala and mongolia mean that i have an international readership. they're not my first repeat multinational readers though. last year i had a frequent flier from nigeria who needed me to help him cash a check. he was such a nice young man!

the prayers of righteous PEOPLE availeth much!*

check kristin's fb page in just a few minutes and you will see that your prayers have worked! she is FINALLY profiled with a current picture!



*with all respect to james, narrowing the prayers to just one righteous man was far too limiting. this took all of us to get her to replace that head shot from 2003!

hey mom! what if ...

... i told you something that irritated you ...







... i said we're not going on any more boat rides today ...









... you won and we did take yet another tour
of annapolis harbor!

bet wonder woman wishes she had some

back in october i traveled to the great state of kansas right around the same time that the tsa launched that full body scanner. turns out though that kansas - really missouri because the airport's in that kansas city - did not have access to said full body scanner so everyone wearing clothes that were not form fitting was subjected to a front-of-the-hand pat down. i was one of those people since i was wearing a dress. i was a little irritated because i felt that the policy targeted women. to save them the trouble of putting on the rubber gloves, i quickly lifted my dress up over my head to expose absolutely nothing as i was wearing the dress because i liked it; not to hide contraband.

flash forward to today. i was returning to dc from my mom's house in upstate new york. i intentionally wore a sports bra because the substantial under wire on my traditional braziere always triggers a pat down. i made it to the magnetometer and ... it buzzed. they brought me over to the search area and the tsa agent asked if i had any metal to which i replied ...

nothing but my titanium nipples.

true story.