my genius dog

uh oh. the meemster has figured out that the mail slot leads out onto the front porch. what she doesn't understand is that it is, in fact, a mail slot and not a doggie door. good effort, meems, good effort.

mad men

new favorite tv show = mad men on amc

i highly recommend it. i have a huge crush on don draper.

IT'S FALL!!!

one of the more redeeming qualities of the mond of rich (as i like to call it) is that it actually experiences what most americans refer to as seasons. now, we texans don't really understand the whole concept of four seasons because texas (well, the parts that i grew up in at least) fluctuates between "hot and humid" and "cool and grey." sometimes if we're lucky we get 3 weeks or so of both spring and fall, but most of the time summer lasts from april through october. terrible.

now richmond, on the other hand, has real fall. real fall??? what a concept! leaves turn beautiful colors and fall to the ground. mornings are cool and crisp and sound travels for miles. wow. we had a beautiful week last week where highs were in the low 70s and lows were in the 50s at night. having the option of leaving the windows open at night is such a novelty in my world. can you tell i'm excited about the seasons changing?

call me pathetic, but the onset of fall is one of the most exciting things that's going on in my world at the moment.

toodles!

powerful women in a man's world

does it seem crazy to anyone else that forbes' list of the top 100 most powerful women includes 2 women that work in packaged goods? i'm sorry, but how powerful can the woman in charge of producing, distributing and marketing sugary sodas and potato chips be? i can't believe she's just one off from good old condi. well, maybe i can. condi probably likes soda and chips as much as the rest of us.

1. Angela Merkel: Chancellor of Germany
2. Wu Yi: Vice Premier of China
3. Ho Ching: Chief executive, Temasek Holdings (Singapore)
4. Condoleezza Rice: U.S. Secretary of State
5. Indra K. Nooyi: Chairman, chief executive, PepsiCo
6. Sonia Gandhi: President, India's Congress Party
7. Cynthia Carroll: Chief executive, Anglo American
8. Patricia A. Woertz: Chairman, Archer Daniels Midland
9. Irene Rosenfeld: Chairman, chief executive, Kraft Foods
10. Patricia Russo: Chief executive, Alcatel-Lucent

quite possibly the most interesting part of this random discovery (don't ask what possessed me to look up the world's most powerful women, 'cause i really couldn't tell you) is the other lists in forbes' "people" category. now what percentage of the people in the other lists are men do you think? i'd say 90 or so (excluding the women's list, of course). it's funny that women are 50% of the population and still so powerless in the grand scheme of things.

400 Richest Americans
Australia & New Zealand's 40 Richest
China's 40 Richest
Greater China's 40 Richest
India's 40 Richest
Israel's 40 Richest
Japan's 40 Richest
Korea's 40 Richest
Malaysia's 40 Richest
Midas 100: Tech's Top Dealmakers
Most Powerful Celebrities
The Forbes Fictional 15
The 40 Richest Turks
Top-Earning CEOs
Top-Earning Dead Celebrities
Wall Street's Top Analysts
World's Billionaires
World's Most Powerful Women

time flies?

so i just realized today that i have been in richmond for a little over three months. i'm not sure if i think it's been a longer or shorter period of time. i still have such mixed feelings about this place...

just thought y'all should know. i love and miss you all!

turning left

ok, so i'm a firm believer in my credo. clearly, 'cause who has a credo that they don't espouse? but i digress...

i'll try anything once.*

in the spirit of upholding my credo, i attended my very first nascar race last weekend. needless to say, it was an experience. i came upon a free ticket and i figured when else am i going to live in a town that has a track. so i went. in a word, wow.

10 things i learned about nascar:
1. everyone has a favorite driver. and if you don't, you pretend.
2. jorts (read: knee-length acid washed men's jeans) are what the cool cats wear.
3. miller high life really is the champagne of beers.
4. corn hole is a cool game (http://www.playcornhole.org/). no, it really is.
5. commencing drinking at noon for a 7:30 PM race is "getting started late".
6. sporting an american flag string bikini when you're a 65-year-old gigumbi is perfectly acceptable.
7. you really can bring your own beer with you into the race. i wish other sporting events were so accomodating.
8. earplugs are a must if you don't want to do permanent damage to your hearing.
9. a single race produces more pollutants than the city of richmond does in an entire month (i made this up, but the thickness of the exhaust was pretty shocking).
10. nascar is to the southeast what rodeo is to texas. if you didn't grow up with it, you just won't get it.

i kept thinking that everyone in the crowd knew something i didn't. no offense to nascar fans, but i just don't understand why watching dudes drive fast in a circle is exciting. but, to each his own.

*with some exceptions, of course, which include but are not limited to the following: intravenous drugs, consuming entrails and the like, prostutution...you get the idea.

more house pics

Alrighty, here are the rest of the pictures of my house.

This is the hallway off the living room that leads to the bathroom and three bedrooms. See the console table on the right? That'll help you figure out where you are.

The first door on the right is the bathroom. Pretty standard for an old house, but I do love the black and white retro tile.

The room at the end of the hallway is the guest room. It is the largest of the three bedrooms (only slightly), but I decided to use it as a guest room since it was at the front of the house and didn't fit my bedroom furniture very well. But the daybed works well under the windows, so I'm happy. Oh, and the pink and green were left from a previous tenant. Yet another reason I didn't want this as my bedroom.

The next door to the left is my bedroom. Here's the view as you walk in. It's a bit of a tight squeeze, but I do have a whole house to myself, so I'm okay if my boudoir is a bit small.

Here's the view standing in front of the dresser and mirror looking back at the bed. All the old decor made it into the new house, so thank god I didn't have to buy anything.

And the last room off the hall is the "office" complete with dark wood paneling. Not my first choice, but I kinda like it. Makes me want to wear a smoking jacket and light up a pipe. Good sized room and it serves its purpose as an office/dog kennel room. Mimi loves it 'cause it's dark and she can snooze away in her own room.

So there you have it. This will be my home for the next few years. Feel free to come visit anytime!