More cat weirdness

The boys greet us on the stairs every time we come home; they also block us from leaving.

In the morning, Wally follows me around like a dog while Eddie sleeps and Chloe does whatever inscrutable things she does.

Around 4--4:30 AM, Eddie will wake up and crawl up between me and Kent, crying loudly. I've learned to let him under the covers. It's the fastest way to get him to be quiet. Even for me, that's just too early to get up.

Every morning, I find their favorite green and purple mice somewhere in our bedroom and toss them back out in the living room. Every night while we sleep, one of them brings both mice back in. We find them on our bed, by our bed and in the doorway. Let me tell you, when you step on one in the dark, it can be a little surprising. At least they aren't sharp, like Legos.

Mostly, though, they pose like dead cats. I have probably 15 pictures of them in various dead poses; these were oh so carefully curated for your viewing pleasure.

"Dead" Eddie

"Dead" Chloe

"Dead" Wally

Music City

I wanted to have pictures for you but they will have to wait. Kent’s got to sort through almost 600 photos from our weekend, and then process the ones that make his cut.

We were in Nashville this weekend to see our daughter-in-law perform Saturday night. She was out of town until late Friday night so we hung out with our son. Saturday morning we met them for brunch—she didn’t know we were coming to town—and Kent got a great series of pictures where you can see her trying to figure who’s got a camera on her and why, and then catching sight of me. It’s a great series.

After brunch we hung out for a while and toured the Parthenon. Since Sophie had to scoot to get ready, Jordan, Kent and I found a bar near Vanderbilt and the old Peabody campus. Nashville got hit by a heavy rainstorm then so we just watched the rain pour down from the covered outdoor area of the bar.

Sophie is an amazing performer. She’s a vocal coach by trade and while she’s done a ton of studio work, she generally doesn’t perform. But she realized it would make her a better vocal coach to know first-hand what her performing students face. Regardless of the reason, I’m so glad we got to see her perform.

I’ll post pictures when they’re ready. 

Oopsies

After all my moaning on Tuesday about calories and pudge, what did we have for dinner last night? Whole Foods pizza. Who suggested it? Why, I did.

I'll just be off in the corner contemplating my sins.

Oink

Kent and I have been feeling a little pudgy lately. Yesterday morning, I woke up wondering how bad the calorie counts are for Smashburger (which we have been enjoying frequently lately), the pizza from Whole Foods (because sometimes it’s nice to just pick up a pizza), and also Unforked (a new local favorite of ours).

I looked up two of them, and really that was enough. No wonder we feel pudgy. We’ve been undoing all our healthy eating at breakfast and lunch with these dinners.

Spicy Baja (Kent’s favorite): 761

Smash fries (also his favorite): 520

Total: 1281

Spicy Baja Black Bean burger (my choice): 670

Fries (also my choice): 460

Total: 1130

Ouch.

Unforked is better. I get two Cali tacos (250 each), and Kent gets two of those plus a Conquistador (247). So my dinner is a more reasonable 500 calories and his clocks in at 747. But then we usually have a small bowl of ice cream . . .

I couldn’t find a reliable count for Whole Foods pizza that they bake but I know it’s not good news. Not with the richness of the crust, all that cheese and of course the pepperoni that's liberally sprinkled all over the top. 

So at least we know. We have a good idea on what’s making the pudge and now we can make better choices. I’m sure I’ll still have a spicy black bean burger from time to time, but I think I’ll ditch the fries. They aren’t all that good anyway. 

Sequels

It's been a while since we've visited the feeding ritual of cats, so I thought a sequel might be in order.

Chloe continues to be a most annoying food siren, usually beginning her crying about two hours before the actual feeding time. Keep in mind that she's got access to kibble all day long so she's not starving, although you wouldn't think so to hear her. And she's very persistent; I cut about 10 seconds from the top of this video of her just crying and crying before I got up and followed her into the kitchen.

I especially love the contrast between Chloe and Eddie, and our ultra cool cat, Wally. Just watch him as he saunters into the kitchen--doesn't he define coolness?

A necessary evil

I don't like naps. I wake up from them very foggy and bleary, which is not at all how I wake up in the mornings. In the mornings, I'm fully functional the moment my feet hit the floor. Kent says I'm a freak because of how alert I am first thing in the morning. Maybe so, but that's my normal state of affairs upon awaking, except for naps.

This week, I have three focus groups running from 10 PM to midnight. The participants are based in Asia so it makes senses that one person (me) should flex rather than the 12 or 15 who attend each one of these groups. But it's painful for me because I am most definitely not a night owl, and I'm not getting nearly enough sleep when I do get to bed (still have my normal day job, after all).

All of that to say I took a very necessary nap yesterday. I slept for a couple of hours and then woke up all bleary and foggy. Man, if that's how the rest of you wake up every day, no wonder you hate mornings. I would too.

Staying out of ruts

Have you seen people who stay in fashion ruts? I'm talking about make up styles from 20 years ago (hello, dark lip liner that doesn't match the lip stick), clothing tied to long ago fads (looking at you, parachute pants, and you, torn t-shirts), or hair (banana curls, anyone?).

Well I don't want to be something I'm not, but I also don't want to be a tragic fashion relic. So from time to time, I head to my local MAC counter for a make up update, I purge my closet and consider which current fads I can wear without looking or feeling ridiculous, and I update my hair style.

The new blue is on the right

Until last year, though, I never included nail polish in the updating category. I don't wear nail polish on my finger nails. The instant it chips, I start picking at it which you'll have to agree isn't an attractive look. But I've always worn polish on my toe nails. Actually, I've always worn a vivid pink polish on my toes. Last year, darker colors were all the rage and I thought I'd give it a try. So I bought a gorgeous shade of dark purple as my test into the realm of other colors.

I didn't actually like that color on my toes. It was probably too dark because you could hardly tell it was purple. It looked more black and that is a look I really don't care for at all. But this year, blues and greens are all the hot nail colors. So once again I bought a new color and gave it a try.

At first I hated it. I thought it looked really unnatural. But I also realized that pink isn't any more natural than blue or any other color. I've worn it now for a couple of weeks and I think I like it.

If you are the nail polish wearing sort, what colors do you wear?