aqua barbie song

WooHOO, there's furniture in our new office! It may still be boxed up and in desperate need of assembling, but it's still better than an empty room. Many thanks to Scott Murray, Helen Waters, and Brian Parkinson for helping Jeff, Doug, and I get our new office started last night. Jeff also brought one of our living room couches to use in the office...it's a black, pseudo-leather couch that we used to have in our very first apartment together. Just having that couch in our office makes it look so much cozier. :-)

By the time we finished piling up the boxes, it was 9 pm. We went for dinner at the Liberty Restaurant, just a couple of blocks away. GREAT food...this place is already becoming a semi-regular hangout. I had a goat cheese and roasted red pepper sandwich, yum.

Jeff and I are going to the office again tonight, this time to assemble my share of the office furniture. Jeff and Doug are going to do the rest this weekend, but I'll be at OVFF. I can't wait to move! My home office is looking like a warzone.

Ha. Ruth just called to "thank" me for the AQUA recording I gave Sara last year (in the same tone of voice she uses to "thank" me for all the noisemakers I give the girls).
Sara had been singing a few lines from the infamous Barbie song (learned from classmates), so I figured why not? Anyway, apparently Sara and Annie love the song, and ask Ruth to play it over and over again while they dance around the living room. Even Annie (who is 2) knows the words: "come on Barbie let's go Barbie uh uh oh oh...".
Heehee, I love being an aunt...

cool dad

My father is visiting Japan right now, and has been e-mailing me daily photos (taken with his digital camera) and updates on what he's doing over there. I'll post some of them if I get a chance. In his last e-mail, he was telling me about seeing a commercial advertising a well-known sports shoe company in Japan. The name of the company? ATHLETE'S FEET (some companies over there use English phrases for some reason...obviously this one didn't have a very good English translator).

The fact that I can see what my dad is seeing and correspond with him every day while he is Japan amazes and delights me. Ten years ago, we might have exchanged two or three postcards. I love the 'Net. :-) I also can't help but be darned proud of my dad, as well...how many guys in their 60s are travelling halfway across the world with a laptop and digital camera to keep in touch with family back home? I have such a cool dad.

Annie called me today to say that she was going to be Flick (from A Bug's Life) at Hallowe'en.

Smart Computing magazine has apparently included Inkspot in their November issue. At first I thought the e-mail message was a scam because the person encouraged me to use their icon link...I'm always suspicious of web awards who tell you something like, "Congrats on the award! Now provide free advertising for our site by linking to us!!" Jeff checked it out, though, and says they're a real print publication. I have to remember to go out and buy a copy. :-)

Didn't get a chance to put together my office furniture last night, sadly...Jeff and I had pre-Inklings work to finish up. In it, I posted the news about Jeff leaving his job to come work for me, and also invited people to post opinions about couples working together. If you have an opinion, feel free to post as well! :-)

Jodi and Allison are coming here for practice tonight. We've decided to have a practice at my place once every three weeks instead of me always going up to Thornhill. I'm actually COOKING tonight, a chicken stew sort of thing. I only hope my music partners survive the experience.

pre-ovff

Fun practice last night. My cooking didn't kill Allison and Jodi; Allison brought almond flakey cookies for dessert, and I also made brownies (a la Betty Crocker insta-mix).

We went through a lot of UT stuff, including "Amanda" (Jodi's new song) and "Four Days" (my new song). "Amanda" is sort of an experiment for us...just two vocals and a flute for accompaniment. We were inspired by Echo's Children. Now all I need is a bass flute... :-)

Jodi's leaving today for OVFF; Allison and I will be heading down tomorrow night, and probably won't get to the hotel until past midnight. I hope there's still music going on by the time we get there! We're hoping to catch the tail end of Puzzlebox's album release party (I can't wait to get a copy of their new CD!).

I CAN'T WAIT TO MOVE INTO MY NEW OFFICE. Jeff and Doug are going to be putting together office furniture this weekend.

As I mentioned yesterday, I invited Inklings subscribers to contribute comments about couples who work together. I was amazed to find that one of them actually wrote a book about couples working together! I love the Internet. If you'd like to see/post comments on this topic, see http://writers-bbs.com/inkspot/?forum=couples.

Leaving for OVFF tomorrow. I'm still not finished unpacking from the Surrey Writers' Conference, and now I have to pack again. This time I'm taking a penny whistle along with my flute, guitar, percussion instruments. I refuse to learn any more instruments; I can't handle having to lug anything else!

buffet strategies

Long work day yesterday, then went out for a very late dinner with Jeff, Doug Gardner, Fred Ilias. We tried a new Indian restaurant around the corner...the food was okay. I still prefer Babur on Queen Street. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet. What's YOUR buffet strategy? Mine tends to be "a little bit of everything" because I hate the idea of missing out on anything, but sometimes I think it might be better to focus on just a few dishes to avoid confusing my taste buds too much. Hm...that could be an analogy of life, don't you think? "Life Is A Buffet"...what a great t-shirt slogan. Or maybe it already is, who knows?

Today's Blatherphoto is another one from my Dad in Japan...a typical lunch served up in the school cafeteria, I think. I have no idea what the big purple thing is; I'll ask him.

Letter of the Week: Someone wrote me a letter in Portuguese, asking me if I knew the words to two Partridge Family songs. I had no idea what the letter was at first, but recognized a few English phrases (like "Partridge Family"). Many thanks to Luisa, John Chew, and Justin Bur in helping translate it for me!

Catching the 9 pm flight to Columbus tonight with Allison; Jodi is already there. Thanks so much to Gary and Sheryl for picking us up at the airport! I'm REALLY looking forward to this convention. Hope to see some of you there!

ovff

Whoa, fun weekend. The OVFF concom did an amazing job! Lots of great concerts and other programming, and the con suite was well-stocked and well-organized. A detailed con report coming soon. I've updated the OVFF website with Pegasus and songwriting contest results, as well as categories for next year.

I listened to my Puzzlebox CD last night and *loved* it. And I was blown away by how professional the cover looked. Beckett (the artist who did the cover) also designed the inside to have photos of everyone who participated on the album, including Urban Tapestry (*blush). I was also super-surprised to see the Fimo cat I made for Paul last year on the back of the CD...:D :D :D.

Thanks so much to Kaarel and Katy for sending mail to my new Inkspot address! Both send cool postcards...Kaarel's was a Rocky & Bullwinkle postcard, and Katy sent a happy face postcard whose picture changes when you tilt the card.

Sorry for the brief blather, but I'm still a bit zoned from the con (plus suffering massive post-con blues). Jeff, Doug, and Scott M. put together all our new office furniture over the weekend while I was gone, and I'm excited about seeing it tonight!!!