say hello to my little friend

meet sylas latham howard. he is my new nephew...or great nephew? i don't know but i do know that i am a great aunt.

1st pic-sy
2nd my nephew cliff & sy
3rd-the happy great granny(my mom) and sy

the gift of good writing

there are lots of things that excite me, and one of those things is finding an author who writes books that i want to devour. the last time i came across one of those authors (thanks goes out to my friend mike from man about murfreesboro for finding the book in the bargain bin at a chain bookstore and thought that i would like it) i fell in love. i fell in love with terry pratchett. he's british, he's funny and he is freakin brilliant. he is responsible for the DISC WORLD SERIES and so far NO ONE has even come close to the pedestal that i have him on. with that said a new author found it's way into my life last week. it seems that most of the ladies in my office has read her and even though she doesn't come close to terry pratchett she is on the ladder. her name is janet evanovich and she writes the STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES. they are crime novels and hilarious. her characters are well developed and the author understands cynical humor. i find myself laughing out loud as i read her books. when that happens i know that the author has found what it takes to turn me on.

luckily these authors always find me. i don't go out in search for them. i rarely go to a bookstore and buy books off the rack. i go to used book stores and our library here has a book sale every month. you can't beat a 50 cent book.

a small vacation

last week i went on a small vacation. a vacation where i had to drive. i don't really like to drive. on wed. drove down to lori's in georgia. the drive was pretty and below the mason dixon line. a plus. we then got ready to drive another 2ish hours to ashevelle nc. asheville is where my friend ida lives and works. she is the costume designer at UNCA and also teaches the make up class. lori taught a class on....well....severed fingers.



i never took any special effects make-up classes in college. it just wasn't my thing. and it's still not. but people who do take this classes really dig it. this class happened on thursday. also while in asheville lori and i went the the ASHEVILLE ARTS MUSEUM. we checked out the paper dress collection. it was a small collection and of course i couldn't touch them. i feel and learn through touch and museum's kind of frown on touching.

an top of all this i got to see ida. i know i look like an amazon in the pic but ida is a very small person.
i became friends with ida around 10 or so years ago. ida used to design the costumes at the NASHVILLE CHILDRENS THEATRE before it changed to Nashville Academy Theatre. somehow i got hooked up with a gig where i would go to NCT and be a stitcher for a couple of weeks. when i got there i met ida. ida is a tattooed, no-shoe wearing hippie. and we clicked immediatly. so after the first show-which was called "OPQRS" and was all orange, i then came back to help ida for the big shows year after year. that is until i got a real job and couldn't take that kind of time off. that and she moved back to n. carolina. needless to say, i miss ida and i'm glad i got to see her and spend time with her.
so lori and i had a good time in asheville. nice weather, nice scenary then started the drive back to georgia on thursday night.

friday was spent going to visit brenau college where lori works. saw her office and the campus and that night went to see a show for children. "THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES" the acting was great but the costumes were something a little less than complete. having been a stitcher for the theatre the costumes are something that i always look at. the dresses weren't hemmed and had strings hanging off the bottom. to me that's a big NO NO. if you are rushed for time the least you can do is serge the bottom. unfinished costumes are a reflection upon the designer.

saturday was the drive back to tennessee. got back before noon and was hoping to hang out with the bf brad. but that didn't happen. he was at a company installing...oh i don't know, something to do with a machine and didn't come home until after midnight sometime. oh well. at least he made money.