We’re standing in her kitchen. It’s apple season, late in apple season. They say the late season apples are the sweetest. I know that’s what she always said. She said it goes to show that God wants us to wait for the very best things to come our way. Patience truly is a virtue. We’re in the middle of putting up applesauce. By the end of the day, we’ll make pies, turnovers, and bread to take to the neighbors. We’ll keep some for ourselves. The entire house smells of cooking apples and of Gran’s orange blossom eau d’ toilette or “toilet water” as she calls it (we’ve tried to correct her but she’s set in her ways). It’s the smell of fall and of the last long days of October.

The day started at sunrise. Gran refuses to use apples that have been setting around. She wants fresh picked. I got up early to help Grandpa pick apples. I check for bugs and beetles before putting the apples in the baskets. Gran demands this. She hates bugs, especially bugs in the kitchen. Once I’ve filled the basket, Grandpa carries the basket on his shoulders back to the house, looking like Atlas with the world upon his shoulders. In a way, the apples are our world. The orchard is vast and while we sell many other fruits and vegetables throughout the year but the apples are really what sustains us. It’s a lot of work but it’s all worth it.

(15.   Something inspired by what you see in this photo by Seedsower.- Mode of creation open- (3 pts), 8.      Something which incorporates  the following words/ things: Sunrise, toilet, Atlas, beetle, orange blossoms, sand- Mode of creation open-   ( 5 pts))

Ahem… in case you forgot…. which you probably didn’t because this will be such an epic event:

Place: Punk’s Backyard Grill

2188 Annapolis Mall
(Directly across from Bank Annapolis on Bestgate Road)

Annapolis, MD 21401

Website: http://www.punksbackyardgrill.com/

Date: January 10, 2010, Sunday

Time: High Noon

If I were a month, I’d be April
If I were a day of the week, I’d be Sunday
If I were a time of day, I’d be 9:05 AM
If I were a “planet,” I’d be Venus
If I were a sea animal, I’d be a sea lion
If I were a direction, I’d be due east
If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a comfy, old chair
If I were a liquid, I’d be coffeee
If I were a gemstone, I’d be sapphire
If I were a tree, I’d be a magnolia tree
If I were a tool, I’d be a hammer
If I were a flower, I’d be a red gerbera daisy
If I were a kind of weather, I’d be a sun shower
If I were a musical instrument, I’d be a violin
If I were a color, I’d be indigo
If I were an emotion, I’d be gentle
If I were a fruit, I’d be a strawberry
If I were a sound, I’d be the sound of rain on a weekend morning
If I were an element, I’d be water
If I were a car, I’d be something with heated seats
If I were a food, I’d be pasta
If I were a place, I’d be a busy city near an ocean
If I were a material, I’d be soft cotton
If I were a taste, I’d taste like chocolate and peanut butter
If I were a scent, I’d be rain on flowers
If I were an animal, I’d be a tiger or a cat
If I were an object, I’d be a french press
If I were a body part, I’d be a pair of arms
If I were a facial expression, I’d be a grin
If I were a pair of shoes, I’d be a pair of warm boots

What would you be?

Taken from Dirtbubble . You should play as well. Tag me if you do!

You never really knew the voracity with which I loved you. You never understood how one word, one glance, one touch had the ability to stop me in my tracks. Or maybe it was more like you did understand which is why you were able to keep me so far under your thumb. It was uncharacteristic for someone to be able to have that power over me. You could make me feel as though I were the only thing that mattered in this word one second while making me feel small and most insignificant in the very next one. Looking back I know that I idolized you and idealized you in my thoughts. You were human too; a simple human and not the god that I often made you out to be. I still can’t imagine why I gave you that power over me.

I think back to the day where I finally drummed up enough courage to speak my mind to you, really speak my mind, something that I had never been able to do in all the years of our relationship, marriage, everything that had anything to do with you and me. You sat across from me in the brightly lit coffee shop. It was sometime in winter. Snowflakes shimmered in the light from the streetlamps. You wore your heavy blue jacket and your Cheshire grin. You were so sure of yourself. I don’t remember exactly what words I said but I know that in an instant, you face fell. I realized that I finally had my voice back.

Notes: * this is fiction, *13.   Something  using this sentence: You never really knew the voracity with which I loved you.-  Mode of creation open-( 3 pts)

Dear Girl on the Metro,

Many of us like to listen to music in the morning during our daily commutes on the Metro. You got on at the very first station of the train line along with myself. As soon as you sat down, you turned on hellacious music on your Crackberry while not having the common decency to use headphones (as the Metro rules and polite society say you should). I watched an older woman behind you politely tap you on the shoulder and ask you to turn down your music (and she said please). You didn’t even acknowledge her and turned away from her even further. You are not cool and frankly, my dear, your taste in music both sucks and blows concurrently (a most difficult feat). I would venture to guess that approximately 90% of the people in that train car have better musical taste than you. I would also venture to guess that approximately 100% of the people sitting around you would have liked nothing better than to see your Crackberry fall out of the train.

Thank you for reminding me why I don’t care much for riding the metro anymore!

Your fellow rider,

Meg

I was off yesterday due to having to go to the dentist to get a filling fixed (I had somehow broken one of mine). I had a lot of time in the afternoon to think about stuff I need to get done because that’s unfortunately what I do when I have free time. For whatever reason, I started thinking about a lot of stuff that I need to do for the wedding. One thing that I’ve barely touched is coming up with music for the ceremony and reception. I got really stuck on the issue of the first dance. You see, the Architect and I don’t have a song. Our musical tastes are vastly different (he’s all about country, I’m all about classic rock and alternative) so we’ve never been able to agree on any song to call our own.

Here’s the list of possible first dance songs that I have:

•   Maybe I’m Amazed by Paul McCartney and Wings
• Something by The Beatles
• In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel
• Crash by DMB
• All I Ask of You- Phantom of the Opera
• The Luckiest by Ben Folds
• Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel
• She’s Got a Way by Billy Joel
• Everlong (Acoustic Version) by Foo Fighters
• Better Together by Jack Johnson
• Your Precious Love by Marvin Gaye
• When You Say Nothing at All by Alison Krauss

So you can kind of see the directions that we’ve been going in. We haven’t gotten that far. So what I’m wondering, dear fellow Xangans, is if you all had some suggestions for a first dance song? I’m looking for inspiration!!!

(Reminder: DMV Meet in Annapolis is on Sunday! Yay!)

So, I’m not really a big fan of New Year’s resolutions per say but I do like setting goals. I just don’t like the idea of having a certain time to set goals or resolutions. Goals should be dynamic. Nonetheless, this month featured_grownups has asked about goals so here are mine right here, right now (just don’t call them resolutions )

Goals for 2010:
- Graduate with my Masters (set for May)
- Get healthier
- Not to stress out over wedding planning
- Get married
- Go to Europe for the first time (this will be for the honeymoon)

Goals for the Next Decade:
- Buy a house
- Travel more
- Have children
- Live each day to it’s fullest

What are your goals? Tell Featured_grownups!

So last night we had our first “meeting” with the minister who is going to be marrying the Architect and I. I say “meeting” because we Skyped with him since he’s down south (technology is wonderful, no?).  Our minister is a good friend of the Architect’s family and really nice to work with. I think it’s kind of cool that we’re able to have someone marry us that we have a real connection to.

We’re pretty much coming up with our wedding ceremony from scratch since we are not getting married in either of the religions that we were raised in. It’s both liberating and terrifying at the same time.  On one hand, we can pretty much do whatever we want but on the other hand, we’re not really going to have much of an idea about how the whole thing is going to turn out until we actually go through the ceremony. At least if you have a Catholic mass or something along those lines, you kind of know how things are going to go since everything is pretty much already laid out for you.

We get to pick out however many readings that we would like to have. Our minister even suggested we look at poetry and literature if we wanted to go a less traditional route. We also get to pick out any little touches that we want (like having a unity candle and the like). We are also going to try to write our own vows, which I’m both excited and nervous about. Also, the minister is big on trying to get everyone, not just the wedding party, involved in the ceremony which is really cool. He’s also really into making this ceremony very oriented around both of our ceremonies, which is really exciting for me.

We’re probably in for a lot more work than if we had just decided to go with one of our religions or another but I’m happy to do it. I know that we’ll be able to have a ceremony that really fits us as a couple and that’s priceless.

Of note: Sunday, January 10^th is the DMV Xanga Meet Up in Annapolis, MD! Woot!

The other day, I was reading one of the -Ish blogs (won’t name it but uh… you can probably figure it out). A girl was talking about how she had just spent a lot of money at a pretty expensive store on several outfits, some which sounded like she would only wear once or twice. It also sounded like she was also carrying some debt (perhaps credit card) before she went on her shopping spree. After she went on the shopping spree, she realized that she probably needed to return some of the shopping spree purchases in order to pay off her credit card debt so she was asking readers which few items she should return.

I was totally confused by this whole event. Mind you, I’m a person who has never carried credit card debt. I pay off my credit card every month. I live within my means. I’ve paid for grad school myself and by the time I graduate, I will be almost student loan debt free. So with that in mind, the idea that someone would go on a major shopping spree totally miffs me especially if they recognize that they have debt. I don’t get it. At least this girl was realized the issue and was trying to pay off her debt. There’s a lot of people out there who just don’t care about debt so they keep driving it up and up and up. It’s insane. That sort of thing always comes back to bite you. Why even do it in the first place?

The time for the DMV xanga meet 3.0 draws near…

Here are the details so far:

Place: Punk’s Backyard Grill

2188 Annapolis Mall
(Directly across from Bank Annapolis on Bestgate Road)

Annapolis, MD 21401

Website: http://www.punksbackyardgrill.com/

Date: January 10, 2010, Sunday

Time: High Noon (we’ll probably grab some lunch downtown)

What: Hang out with some cool Xangans (like you need anything more) and walk around a pretty city.

Things to know:

- If you are having trouble finding transportation from closer to the DC area, message me and we can see if we can work something out.

- In the past, people have also had trouble with finding the group. Message me and we can also talk about contact information.

- I would like to get a general headcount so if you are coming or are strongly thinking about coming, please let me know (comments or messages work).

- Pass this on so everyone can join in on the fun.