My parents like to read books aloud to each other. It is one of the many charming qualities they have as a couple. Last night my mother called to tell me that they had just finished Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy:
For seven of the past nine days I've attended a Bikram Yoga class, and I can already tell a significant difference in the way my body works. I feel better. I have more energy. I sleep deeper, and the pain in my wrist and hands, which was caused from sitting at my desk and typing all day, is gone. But this post isn't about the benefits I'm getting from my brand new yoga journey. This post is about my straight guy friends reaction to yoga...
Okay. So. I tried to watch Frontline's The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan but I only made it part of the way through the hour. It is beyond disturbing for me to think about this happening in our world today.
I have always felt connected to dolphins. I don't know why, but my heart beams when I see dolphins in the sea or in captivity. It always has. It's a logical connection because they are highly evolved animals and we are highly evolved animals too.
We are keeping our 4-legged niece this weekend. Cady is a Jack Russell Terrier and unlike our dogs she is a hunter. I was digging and planting in our flowerbeds yesterday morning, when the familiar gray grass snake slithered out of the dirt. The snake was young and only about a foot long. As soon as I saw it moving I knew what would happen. Cady saw it. She pounced in amazing speed and snatched the snake in her mouth and whipped her head until the snake broke into two pieces. She killed it in less than three seconds after seeing it. I saw the whole thing go down and it was so interesting to see Cady use her instinct to kill. It was also sad for the snake.
I turn 30 this summer. I'm always happy to celebrate another year on this earth. It means I've spent more time with my husband and my family and my friends. I've seen more and experienced more and learned more after each year of life. I love having birthdays.
Trigger does not like to sleep on the floor. Trigger does not like to sleep in his dog beds. Trigger does not like to sleep on the couch. Trigger likes to sleep on top of the back couch cushions. He likes to smash down the cushions and curl up into a ball. And it annoys me a little bit that he's wrecking the back cushions to our couch, but then he looks so darn cute...
When I read the below case docket I am reminded that we must continue to fight for marriage equality until the day we die; otherwise this could happen to us:
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Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.
One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes.
Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care.
What happened next is even more chilling: without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold's lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.
Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property. The only memento Clay has is a photo album that Harold painstakingly put together for Clay during the last three months of his life.
With the help of a dedicated and persistent court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis of Santa Rosa, Clay was finally released from the nursing home. Ms. Dennis, along with Stephen O'Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O'Neill, Barrack & Chong, now represent Clay in a lawsuit against the county, the auction company, and the nursing home, with technical assistance from NCLR. A trial date has been set for July 16, 2010 in the Superior Court for the County of Sonoma.
(From NCLR website.)
I have always been fascinated with company logos that look like really cool hand writing. I know these are most likely some creative person's designs; however, I like to think that originally there was a really cool person with really cool hand writing that wrote out these names...and someone turned it into a logo. I want to meet the people that can write like this. I want to write like this.
Tomorrow, April 15, is tax day in the United States of America, and the husband and I along with the rest of the homos in this country will be paying our income tax bill and making checks payable to our beloved country. We pay taxes to this country, but we don't have the freedom to marry in this country. 
I love irises. They are the most under-appreciated flowering plant in our world. They are resilient; they can thrive without much tending from a gardener. They are beautiful; they have orchid-like flowers blooming once a year. They are lush; I love the long slim leaves in my garden year round.
Friday night we were having dinner at Cousin Kate & Jason's house. Our other cousins David and Jason were having dinner their too. Kate was putting down Milo, their infant son, in his nursery and at the same time Jason had to leave the house to go pick up our meal. Jason asked Lucy, their 6 year old daughter, if she wanted to go with him, and when she declined he told her to entertain the guests. Lucy turned around and looked at the four men in her house. She ran to the kitchen and proclaimed that she was going to make us "refreshments." We all gathered around the kitchen island as Lucy pulled up her stool and began to make peanut butter and graham crackers for each of us. After we ate our refreshments she put on her ballerina outfit and danced for us. We were very well entertained guests. Lucy is the best.
I thought this car was interesting. Notice the naked woman on the front wheels and the way the car covers the back wheels.
We had the best weekend in the city that holds our heart, Austin Texas!
Here's a flavor of our life: This week we wake up and go to work. The interesting part is that I commute to the office in a nearby city, and my husband commutes to a far away city via American Airlines. In the evening we both reverse our commutes and return home. It's nice because we both end up in the same bed at night even though we're miles apart during the day.
The husband and I love to watch E's The Soup. Add it to your DVR and you too can get caught up on all the week's trash television. I highly recommend The Soup because it's just fun! We like fun!
In terms of solutions it is easier to create a complex solution, but it takes real talent to create a simple solution. In our word, it's easier to add more, but it takes the most skill to create a simplistic solution. I think we need more simple solutions among us. I've always heard that cliche that "less is more" but I don't think I really understood the genius of those words until recently. Let's all try to keep it simple!
My friend Stephanie made poodle cupcakes over the weekend, and she sent me a photo of the cute creations. Stephanie owns two standard poodles. Over the past two years I've started to appreciate the standard poodle. I really think black standard poodles are beautiful. One day I want to own one. I will name him Sirius.
Presley spent Easter at our house, and we had so much fun buying stuff for her Easter basket. This quiet possibly could be the best Easter basket ever.
