all that's past is prologue...

Patrick is leading a "clean out our old stuff" charge, and so here are some things we are de-accessing. Let me know if there is anything you want: - a whole bunch of plastic magazine holders - a tall, open plywood bookshelf - a low, grey nylon Ikea chair (think a cross between a director's chair and a gaming chair) - 1/2 carton of kitty litter crystals - a big bag of wildflower seed/mulch - a medium sized dog kennel - a couple of cat carriers - a couple of plastic gas cans - an infant swing - a metal trimmed medicine chest - a robins-egg blue lamp, in need of some repair, that I love and Patrick doesn't - a couple of shiny brass, 90s style "chandeliers" - 4 white and 1 green resin outdoor chairs in need of cleaning - 3 folding plastic loungers - a blue bin for holding things in your trunk (like grocery bags) I'm sure we'll have more...

I already miss you so much.

The Ivey Awards is the annual awards ceremony that recognizes the theatre community and amazing performances of the past year. The brainchild of the brilliant Scott Mayer, last night was its fifth year, and it's established itself as an important annual ritual. Sure, there are the jokes about it being "theater prom." And every year that I go I feel older and somewhat out of the loop. And I feel bad about all the performances I did not see. But the latter point gets to the heart of it. We live in such an amazing community, filled with incredible people creating truly transformative work. And the Ivey awards celebrates that, and reminds us of the community we live in, and honors these wonderful people and this great work. And damn it if it doesn't get to me every year, making me tear up about this strange and wonderful profession I have chosen — and it does it to pretty much everyone else in that audience as well, even if they don't think it will. So thank you...

It's been awhile since I have posted about my bargain mania, but last night had some big wins! Nordstroms had a deal where you could trade in a bottle of (cheap, half-used, whatever) shampoo for a bottle of expensive, designer Fekkai shampoo. I bear an irrational love for high-end haircare products, so we headed over and got one bottle for me and one for Patrick's friend Lindsi. Why Lindsi? Because she had one dinner for 8 at Chipotle, and our next stop was to head over and meet her and some of her friends and get treated to burritos as big as our heads! We had a great time, especially because "free" and "burrito" are two of my favorite words. Beatrix appears to have liked it as well:

We took Beatrix on a photo walk last weekend, wearing my great-grandmother Mamie Scow's christening dress, because I really wanted some pictures of her in it. A full set of the photos is on my Facebook page, but here's one for any of you who don't cross over.

Ok, more to keep them in one place than anything else, here are my current wish lists: Foodie Places I Desperately Want to Try or Go To: King's Wine Bar Northeast Social Club Anchor Fish and Chips Moto-I The Strip Club the new Saint Paul Barrio to use my State Fair ticket stub for a free drink at The Sample Room Blackbird (love it there) (but NOT Heidi's, see earlier rant) Mango (ditto) Getting my dearly beloved Bonecrusher (a JP fave), rumored to be at Tiger Sushi , even if I am not crazy about their sushi And, unusually for me, I have a whole list of movies I want to see: District 9 Julie & Julia Harry Potter version whatever it was The Time Traveller's Wife Oh, and I want to pick raspberries and go the the Renaissance Festival and the Selby Jazz Festival (next Saturday) too. And get over to sit in the hot tub at least once this year. Sigh.

So I appear to have sprained my knee on some loose pavement outside the Northern Warehouse yesterday. At first I thought I had just skinned it badly, so I went on with my day. I suppose I should have realized I was in a lot of pain and just gone home and rested and iced it, but there you have it. Now it's swollen and dramatically painful and made our 4.5 hours at the Fair today rather difficult. Aaaragh! How long do things like this take to feel better?

Last night was Patrick's turn to rant on health care. I guess tonight is mine. You see, Steph's video got me thinking. Steph and her husband are very talented people, who would make the world a much better place if they were able to start their own businesses. But they can't, because they have pre-existing (relatively minor) conditions that would not allow them to get healthcare. My mom would have turned 71 today. But she died in 2006 of colon cancer, cancer that might have been prevented if she had been able to get permission from her insurance to have a colonoscopy. But there was no history of cancer in our family, and no indication of any issues, so she had to wait until she was on Medicare. A colonoscopy was on her calendar — but she didn't end up going, because her Stage IV cancer was diagnosed in the ER a few weeks before. My father-in-law is a freelance radio engineer who often housesits in the DC area. A few months ago he was walking the two dogs — who sa...

Guest blog post/video by our friend Steph here . She is amazing and we are humbled.