medi/to the/ocre

I’m back there again. Lonely. Moving to a new city always does this to me eventually. I go...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:19:06 -0600

I’m back there again. Lonely. Moving to a new city always does this to me eventually. I go through a cycle:

Adrenaline rush of new place, which will be better than old place because it has more/better x, y or z.
“Oh shit!” realization that new apt/house will require all sorts of new purchases (this is followed by happy shopping dance and much later by sad credit-card-balance shuffle).
Decorate, explore new neighborhood and generally do nesting activities.
Get house in good enough shape to entertain.
Realize I don’t know enough people to host a coffee klatch, let alone a cocktail party. Too bad, since I’ve turned the front room into a lounge/bar area.
Pout about not knowing anyone.(I’m currently in this stage. Can ya tell?)
Call/DM/text/e-mail friends in other cities to assure myself that I am not a total reject.
Wait for calls/DMs/texts/e-mails to be returned.
Get over my self pity, go out and meet people.

Maybe I can skip ahead a few paces this time. Nothing personal, Lonely. I just don’t want to share the road with you for very long.

Image: “Lonely” by Crystyl

Why hello, down comforter. Haven’t see you in months. You look good. … Really good....

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:23:57 -0500

Why hello, down comforter. Haven’t see you in months. You look good. … Really good. Have you been going to the dry cleaners?

What’s that? You want to envelop me in warm, soft, gauzy goodness? I guess that would be OK … just don’t tell my husband.

Otherwise known as “lunch.”

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:09:54 -0500

Otherwise known as “lunch.”

Losing it ... or not

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:17:37 -0500

College BFF: Last time I lost weight but didn't tone. The middle NEEDS the toning.

Me: "Yoga for Abs" will be perfect for you. The instructor looks like a surfer dude and you do bridges and stuff that really works the middle. It's only mildly painful :)

College BFF: Pain might be good. Last time I was careful with myself forever and only realized later that that doesn't make you feel better.

Me: Isn't it funny how we so easily push our brains, but have trouble remembering the body lessons? Every time I go off the wagon, I feel like (**bleep**). And then I start again and the endorphins are amazing.

College BFF: I just ate pastry while watching "The Biggest Loser." And it wasn't even good pastry.

Possibly the cutest Halloween treat. Ever. mashimaro: Ghost...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:59:56 -0500

Possibly the cutest Halloween treat. Ever.

mashimaro:

Ghost Cupcakes (via daveknapik)

Bought catnip-filled mice and a new scratching pad today. Miles is tearing around the house like a...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:53:53 -0500

Bought catnip-filled mice and a new scratching pad today. Miles is tearing around the house like a kitten. I love it.

My husband is in this book!*

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0500

*I’m proud, proud, proud. But you should know his story isn’t published. It’s mentioned under “notable” pieces that the editors would’ve liked to include and didn’t have room.

Here’s the credit page:

And here’s the close-up:

Jeff’s listed right next to his KC Star colleague Bill Reiter, but most of the notables are from magazines. Out of 80 stories, 20 are from daily newspapers. And Jeff was the only beat writer included.

Like I said, I’m proud. And now he has a goal for next year…

iblameitonchurchypeople: hunsonisgroovy: (via pyrosarco)

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:28:16 -0500

iblameitonchurchypeople:

hunsonisgroovy:

(via pyrosarco)

Friday night w/ out @jaymart somewhat improved by my new Tumblr theme and my Google Wave invite. I...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:57:16 -0500

Friday night w/ out @jaymart somewhat improved by my new Tumblr theme and my Google Wave invite. I feel very last week.

Just in time for #FF, @dlmccartney joins us in the Twitterverse! Follow her; she’s one of the...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:57:16 -0500

Just in time for #FF, @dlmccartney joins us in the Twitterverse! Follow her; she’s one of the coolest ladies I know.

Why yes, thank you. I would love to spend my Friday night...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:02:21 -0500

Why yes, thank you. I would love to spend my Friday night getting to know you.

It’s an Erykah kind of day. Hoping some of her...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:03:40 -0500

It’s an Erykah kind of day. Hoping some of her fabulousness rubs off.

Note to self:

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:46:44 -0500

adelamaide:

It doesn’t have to be good.

It just has to be done.

WRITE.

Amen, Amy. We’ve all been there.

sheasylvia: The season 4 premier of Dexter is this Sunday...

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:59:08 -0500

sheasylvia:

The season 4 premier of Dexter is this Sunday night!

I. Cannot. Wait.

On our last night in Wichita, Jeff and I joined some friends for...

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:50:00 -0500

On our last night in Wichita, Jeff and I joined some friends for an enchilada-making party (delish, delish, delish!). It was low key and I tried not to get sad about leaving. Held it together pretty well until Tony pulled out his guitar and told me he’d started learning a new song when he heard we were moving away. His voice almost always raises tears anyway (He’s got that soulful thing that Mary J. and Anthony Hamilton do so well — raw edges that show you they’ve felt pain, y’all, and they’re gonna sing it away). But this song, it was something else. Take a listen.

Amos Lee, “Arms Of A Woman”

I am at ease in the arms of a woman.
Although now,
most of my days i spend alone.
A thousand miles,
from the place i was born.
But when she wakes me,
she takes me back home.

Well, we’re at it again. Packing up and movin’ on....

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:56:00 -0500

Well, we’re at it again. Packing up and movin’ on. These years in Wichita have been pretty damn good, in spite of some tough times and tears. I’ve made lifelong friends, learned so much about myself professionally and moved into new realms of adulthood in my personal life.

Can’t sum it all up in one post, but it seems fitting to be leaving four years and one month to the day from when I arrived in this great big landlocked state. Everywhere I turn, there are reminders of my first days in Kansas:

- Cheesy rock acts at the Kansas State Fair. ZZ Top was one of my first assignments. Heart played the grandstand last night.

- Campers filled with fans headed to Winfield. At Walnut Valley I first heard the hybrid of bluegrass and speed metal that defines much of Wichita’s live music scene.

- Signs announcing the Junior League’s Holiday Galleria. I’m not a social-events-calendar gal, but my new friend Josh had a booth at the Galleria for his furniture store, so Jeff and I went. We met Josh’s parents, sister and brother-in-law, who became our surrogate family out here.

- The almost-complete Intrust Bank Arena. When I arrived in 2005, The Eagle was full of stories about plans for the downtown arena, to open in 2010. I swore I would be long gone from Kansas before its ribbon-cutting. Who knew?

- BFF Shea’s newest blog. One of my first features included a profile of her as part of a story about local bloggers. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

- The wind rustling, rustling, rustling the trees. In spite of “a twister, a twister!” being an iconic movie line, I never really processed the idea that Kansas has breezes, not just gale-force winds. I’ll never give up being a mountain girl, but I’ve come to love the sound and motion the wind brings to the plains.

Image: “Moving Boxes” by Robert S. Donovan

Of all the punctuation options available, you chose quotation...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:05:12 -0500

Of all the punctuation options available, you chose quotation marks? Bold move, I must say.

Coveting this home bar for our new formal living room....

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:10:42 -0500

Coveting this home bar for our new formal living room. I’ve never been a “formal” person, but I figure it’s cool as long as the room is stocked with booze.

"There’s no such thing as perfect writing, just like there’s no such thing as perfect despair."

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:05:53 -0500

“There’s no such thing as perfect writing, just like there’s no such thing as perfect despair.”

- The eminently quotable Murakami — the first sentence of Hear the Wind Sing. (via dailymeh)

Wedding + 365 = Happiness

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:18:33 -0500

JEFFREY MARTIN & JILLIAN COHAN

Shipwreck Beach, Island of Kauai, Hawaii
September 9, 2008

Virginia St. Claire, Master of Divinity, Celebrant

GATHERING: WORDS OF WELCOME

We have come together to honor and celebrate the sacredness of all life and especially, today, the union of two loving beings, Jeff and Jill. We have gathered to witness and bless the vows which will unite them in marriage. To this moment they bring the fullness of their hearts as a treasure to share with one another. They bring the dreams which bind them together. They bring that spirit which is uniquely their own, and out of which will grow the reality of their life together. Let us rejoice with Jill and Jeff as the outward symbol of an inward union of hearts, a union created by friendship, respect and love.

READING: Samuel Clemens, written about 1842

“This day is sure to be the mightiest day in the history of your lives, the most memorable, & the most generous toward you both—for it makes of two fractional lives a whole; it gives to two purposeless lives a work, & doubles the strength of each whereby to perform it; it gives to two questioning natures a reason for living, & something to live for; it will give a new gladness to the sunshine, a new fragrance to the flowers, a new beauty to the earth, a new mystery to life; & it will give a new revelation to love, a new depth to sorrow, and a new impulse to worship. In this day the scales will fall from your eyes, and together, you shall look upon the world anew!”

VOWS

Let us celebrate the abiding love which exists between these two people, to stand with Jill and Jeff, as they declare their love and the intention to live together joyfully in a sacred covenant. Please join hands.

Jill, please repeat after me: I, Jill, take you Jeff to be my wedded husband. By the choice of my heart I take you to be the companion of my life. I love you and accept you as you are and as you will become. I, joyful and with faith and tenderness, promise to live with you, to love you and to cherish you from this day forward.

Jeff, please repeat after me: I, Jeff, take you Jill to be my wedded wife. By the choice of my heart I take you to be the companion of my life. I love you and accept you as you are and as you will become. I, joyful and with faith and tenderness, promise to live with you, to love you and to cherish you from this day forward.

EXCHANGE OF RINGS

These rings are symbols of your love for each other. In wearing them you declare the sacredness of your union.

Jeff, please repeat after me: Jill, with this ring I, Jeff, pledge my love and devotion to you. When you feel this ring on your finger remember that I love you, I’m happy with you. I honor and celebrate our life together.

Jill, please repeat after me: Jeff, with this ring, I, Jill, pledge my love and devotion to you. When you feel this ring on your finger remember that I love you, I’m happy with you. I honor and celebrate our life together.

BLESSING TIME

We are grateful for the gift of love, especially the love that brings us together here today. We are grateful for the gift of marriage in which two people become more than they are, because of their relationship to each other. We are grateful for the privilege we have to be here and to witness Jeff and Jill’s love for each other and their commitment to each other.

May their love, as beautiful as it is, become even more beautiful and deeper in the days and months and years ahead. I believe we are each, as persons, more beautiful than we know or see. May Jill and Jeff find that beauty in each other and each within themselves through their life together. May they deal openly and creatively with life’s challenges both by speaking and by listening, by being themselves and by making allowance for each other and by seeking together a better way than is open or evident to either one alone.

May all of us here learn more about love and the power of love to create, to heal and to build a better world. May Jeff and Jill receive the gift of memory for this moment. May they treasure it as it unfolds into the mystery of the future.

CIRCLE OF BLESSING

In an unbroken circle of love may we silently offer blessings to Jill and Jeff.

Ka malamalama o ke Akua e ho’opuni mai oukouKa mana o ke Akua e ho’opakele mai oukouKe alo o ke Akua e malama mai oukouMai kahi oukou e hele aku ai he Akua no.

DECLARATION

Jeff and Jill, you have agreed to enter into this partnership. You have given and pledged your love each to the other. You have declared this love by the exchanging of vows, the giving and receiving of rings and the joining of your hands.

Jill and Jeff, through your own declaration I acknowledge you as husband and wife, partners in the journey of life.

PRESENTATION

I now present to you Jeff and Jill for the first time as husband and wife.