Hello again!

Sorry things have been so slow lately, my life has been anything but and I am just starting to get back on an even keel here. Blogging will be resuming, though it may be a bit rough next week; I will be in the mountains and I have no idea what my internet access will be. However, I think there will be a fair bit of blogging today. We'll see what happens.

There is news in my life. I have rolled into my next decade with a marvelous surprise from all my lovely scheming friends and I thank all of you tremendously. The surprise also managed to inspire me to finally try Google Reader and enter into the RSS feed world. Once again, I have to admit that my resistance was futile and stupid: I love my Google Reader with a passion I cannot quite explain and I cannot wait until I get it worked out so that Google and my Chumby are seemlessly streaming all the information I can find. After that sentence I think you can also understand that, though I love it, Google Reader is going to kill me soon. Just imagine me stuck in front of my computer for hours with my finger on the down arrow and my eyes scanning until they get stuck that way. I'm trying to start tagging individual blogs in an attempt to try and bring some order to the chaos.

As of last night, I am officially a belly dance and yoga instructor. This really was not something I would have predicted six months ago, but it does take the edge off of being old.

Speaking of my birthday, Robear is the bomb and not only is Bishop Allen awesome in concert, I learned that Robear has a thing for men with ukuleles. I'm just putting it out there if anyone is looking for the way to her heart. Though, as much fun as I had with Robear and the fam in Raleigh and DC (thanks to my aunt for gracious quantities of sparkling Bordeaux and a Portuguese red), I really cannot even begin to express how wonderful it is to get back home for a few days, especially when my mother made me her famed raspberry jelly roll, which is just about my favorite dessert in the world. Whip cream, almonds, amaretto, white cake, and a really good quality raspberry jam: it is simple and perfect and quite difficult to make. It and tiramisu with raspberries sort of vie for the dessert position in my personal version of "My Favorite Things".