flyin by the seat of my pantz...

The Campfire Gurlz... Reverand J Ice, DJ Lordesaurs Rex, myself, Kymmie Blu Funkmaster...

ha! three girls in a corolla headed for zenfest.

i'm going to something called the zenfest out near kc this weekend. camping, poi, belly dancing, meditation, chanting, tai chi, drumming... and gawd knows what else.

i don't camp a lot... like it, but it used to be too much work. camping when i was married was an exercise in extreme OCD. every meal planned and bagged in a ziploc. days ahead there was laundry and checklists and packing... due to my excellent diligence, we were prepared for every possible, conceivable activity and disaster. this was all me. he gathered the dog and his stuff, usually an hour after we should have been on the road. it was all very serious.

fast forward three years. i got an email invite today. sure i'll go. i've got my kickin backpack, a tent, a sleeping bag, a flashlight, a frying pan and my toothbrush. i don't know where we are going. i don't know how much it costs. i was assigned to get breakfast, cranberry for the vodka and the directions. i've thrown some clothes in the backpack--first thing in was the swimsuit. things are a lot more loosey goosey these days.

i'm crazy psyched and can't wait to go. i have know idea what to expect, but these girls are fun and there is a workshop in a meditation garden on spinning fire. how bad could it be?

thought stream....

someone is raising a red flag about the alcohol in the latest harry potter. i saw the movie and i read the book; i barely noticed the butterbeer and mead...

i see the point brought up in this story in the NYT, but it leaves me a little exasperated. MUST we nit pick and find the negative in everything? are we so politically correct that we cannot merely enjoy a good story? do we believe so little in our abilities to be good parents as to turn blame onto everything else?

this saddens me. i don't know why i didn't expect it. but really, who wants to always expect the worst and accept whatever.

that brings me to something else. quality. in our economy, it seems that quality has suffered the greatest.

for instance the baltimore sun cut its copy desk from 3 to 4 dozen copy editors to six. (when i heard this i let out a very loud and guttural noise... merely writing about it makes me furious.)

since a lot of actual content is online now, there is some misconception that content needn't be treated with the same standards as print. what? WRONG! if most of your content is moving to the web and more readers (read young) are reading on the web--your priorities are backasswards, as my mother would say.

and lastly, i saw 500 days of summer with some awesome peeps. i'd wanted to see it, but was a little hesitant... very glad i was with folks who make me laugh.

the movie itself was absolutely awesome. i'm a huge fan of zoe deschanel, not just as an actress, but more so for her music, (you may recall that i've posted one of She & Him's videos a couple times. ) as for joseph gordon-levitt, he has gone from 3rd rock guru to first rate actor, imho. i'd like to see it again... in some ways it is like fight club... you want to go back and see the hints again, even though you know how it's going to end.

i can't imagine one person who couldn't relate to this movie in some way. the little musical sequence is sheer genius and utterly delightful. i'm not a buyer of dvds, but i was mentally putting in my order for this one halfway through.

in the last half, however, i felt a little too much like the character, tom. there were parts of it that felt a lot like getting mad kitty scratches all over my body and then being submerged in salt water. i don't recommend this for anyone who has recently had their heart broken and isn't to the anger stage or already callused. but, i'm glad that it didn't have a tidy, happy ending. this felt more honest.

however, all you folks blissfully in relationships or happily married should see it. you'll take the hand of your SO and give it a little extra appreciative squeeze. i guarantee it.

bug in my vcr

i'm about to have a little rant.

i've always liked the indy 500 in a weird and strangely compulsive way. no, i'm not a nascar car girl; i like open wheel.

not so many years ago, i discovered that what i really liked was formula one. but, i didn't have cable, so i never got to see it. (everyone knows this--communal groan.)

anyway, i met this guy and he just fed my craving for formula one--got me seriously hooked. oh yeah, he'd tape it and i'd go over and watch it with him. real convenient. then the guy changes his mind, takes off and leaves me jonesing for my race. bad enough to loose a spiffy guy, but the races too? too much.

however, i've been in luck since they're running four races on the network. bless them.

till today. i had a prior commitment that ran through my race. i had to figure out my vcr (cue dramatic music).

i futzed and pressed buttons and programmed the irate little bugger. i thought i had it all set up, but when i got home i found out how very wrong i was.

bloody hell. major upset in the race and i missed it. for pete's sake, hamilton won. hamilton was his guy, too. makes it all that much worse. grrrr.

i'm going to be forced to take drastic action and call the dreaded cable company.

the lesson? never go out with guys who wear hats.

Juniper arrives to greet her guests!

Juniper arrives to greet her guests!, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

One of my best friends asked me to shoot her daughter's birthday party... a tea party!

The day was lovely, full of princesses and glittery fairies. Everyone had a lovely time, including the adults who came in their tea party finery!

Happy birthday, JuniBug!

(click the photo to see the rest of the princesses, fairies, and one dapper young man.)

airy pauter...

went to see harry tonight. i thoroughly enjoyed it. this is not a major critique, so don't expect it.

i love the fantasy of hogwarts. the extreme joy, the pain, the sadness--it's all very real life wrapped in the lovely glow of fantasy. honestly, these stories, these characters are some of my favourites in literature and film.

as harry and dumbledore began their last little adventure tonight, the memory of my reading of the book came back full force. i read the half-blood prince in a 24 hour period. i've only done that with one other book, stephen king's IT when i was in my late teens. anyway, i had been sick and thought reading would help pass the time.

i remember reading the chapters of this last adventure. i had a nice little fever of around 101 and i was sitting at my dining room table around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. the light in my dining room was very bright and it wasn't really like me to sit at a table and read, but well, i'd been reading in bed all night and morning.

as i read the last part of that chapter... read the death of dumbledore, i lost it. i sat there and wept watching tear drops soak into the pages.

this silly little series has touched something in me, as it has millions of others. every day i look at the last book in the series that sits on my end table. i wonder if i will ever actually read it. i was there at midnight the day it was released. i grasped my copy and held it close. but, i just can't finish the story.

i want to hang on to that lovely glow.

cyst boom bah...

since i was diagnosed with PCOS a couple years ago, i've blogged a bit about the changes and discoveries in the temple i call Kym.

a few months ago my doc discovered a cyst in my uterus. the plan was that hopefully it would just go away and when we tested in a couple months it'd be all gone. according to my new friend the ultrasound tech dude, it didn't go away. now, i have to wait until mid-august to get the official results and map out the game plan to fish it out and find out if it's wearing a white hat or a black hat.

the wincing, squinty pained look on my face? yeah, that's mounting fear. not excited about surgery or the reason for that matter. it's been such a hard year and i've cried more than my share for a life time in just the first seven months. i'm just scrounging around for another good laugh. i know there's one left in the bottom of my backpack... now where is it?

we now return you to your regularly scheduled good attitude.

photography class

IMG_7120, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

this was week two of my six week photography class. it's an intermediate level, and i'm so thrilled with it, i could just shout from the rooftops. i'll start by telling you. :)

the teacher is a woman with a lot of character and a broad reaching history. she's not a bubbly sort by any means, but i think she has a kind heart. you should the way her eyes light up when she talks about aperture! her enthusiasm is infectious.

i've made some quick friends in the class and am pleased to be among so many talented people who challenge me, but aren't so far beyond me that i feel insecure.

in just two classes, i've been able to grasp some key concepts that i've been struggling with for months. that alone makes the class worth every single cent.

and that leads me to this photo. if you click on it, it will take you to my flickr where you can see the rest of this set of pics. i went to laumeier sculpture park, a local favourite with photographers.

my assignment was to experiment with composition. i had so much fun rolling around in the grass and climbing around to get shots from different angles. it really helped me bond with my camera... which has been a real struggle.

i'm giddy with enthusiasm!

clouds

IMG_6537, originally uploaded by MisfitHue.

we had the most beautiful skies on friday and sunday. i took this on sunday when i was taking a break from work.

clouds have so much character, and the way they reflect light... amazing colors!

sunday was a great day to lay in the grass and watch in wonder. i watched through my view finder and this is what i saw.

better than i hoped...

my friend, Andrea brought me a couple dresses to try on this evening before class. the one that i absolutely fell in love with is very similar to this one, only purple with pink accents.

i had asked Andrea for a dress, but i knew that it was tricky with my measurements, and she wasn't sure she had anything. in my last post, you saw the one that i thought she would bring--a two piece costume.

to my absolute delight she brought a dress and it fit so very well... only minor alterations will be needed. i like the dress so much better than the two piece. not to put too fine a point on it, i like my curves much better in a dress.

it isn't mine yet because, well, these things cost a fortune. but she is holding it and as soon as i can, i want to dance in it!

it's so elegant! it is exactly the kind of costume i had hoped for and if you could see me doing my little happy dance right this moment, you'd be laughing with me.

a little project...

i agreed to help a friend and color correct more than a hundred photos for her online catalog. for this, i requested a discount on one of her costumes.

it took me all weekend to master what i was trying to do, and in the end, i'm very glad that i convinced her to let me do it. i made some significant learnings!

she said she had a purple costume in mind, and i think this might be it.

ohhhh, sooo excited!