Halloween girl party!

Why do I agree to these things? Oh yeah...cause it's fun!

So busy

I am probably going to have to discontinue this blog, at least temporarily. Obviously I haven't posted anything since July so I'm off to a good discontinuation start!

Here's the deal: I have one more chapter to finish in my dissertation, three that need to be revised, and an October deadline. I am teaching full time again this semester, and while it seems as if it will be an easy one, there are still lesson plans to write and papers to grade. Not to mention the still unplanned film festival I'm supposed to be in charge of. I also have my Darlington reunion in a month, which I am also in charge of. Then there are the kids and their school issues. Mainly there is my sweet lover boyfriend best friend angel, who takes up all my thoughts all day and most of the night.

We've been together since June, and I am pretty sure (well, okay, totally sure) this is the real deal. Unfortunately he lives in Valdosta, give or take a few miles, and we are trying to get him here, which takes up more time. I am not complaining, though. He is the kindest man I have ever known, and funny and smart and exciting. So all that to say, if I have to give up something, it has to be the blog.

I know you all understand, sad as you may be...I'll be back when things slow down!

Man in my life

So who would think I have the capacity to love someone again? Okay, I would...obviously a couple of bad rotten apples aren't gonna freeze up my heart. But damn...this one came out of nowhere and totally swept me away. Paul Burke, yes THAT Paul Burke, and I are together. He's smart, sweet, funny, cute, kind, sexy...everything anyone could want. And he loves me. Wow.

We sort of knew each other, or rather I knew him, or rather I knew OF him, back in the early Atlanta music days. He's been in lots of (really cool) bands and stuff, and was part of the whole Now Explosion scene, and the American Music Show thingy that was on cable, and all kinds of performance groups an stuff. So we started talking on Facebook and we were both like WOW. You're kind of awesome. And then we met up in Macon (cause he's not local, damnation) and bing...everything clicked into place.

I gotta say, this is the best man I've been with, ever. And he's a better fit than anyone has ever been. Ever. So pardon me for gushing but YAY LOVE!!!!!!!!!! Did I mention he's also an actor? And really really funny? And an amazing writer? And avant-garde like no one I've known before? Well now I did...


Am I beaming enough?

Burke

Old photo, new favorite person in the world.

Happy Father's Day

Just missing my dad today. Kind of blue. He was a sweet, smart, loving father, and I'll never have anyone love me that much again. Love you, dad.

NED Fest

We had a throwdown Friday night in Athens, and I've just about recovered enough to write about it. A few months ago Lynda

Lynda shows KO how it all works

said she was thinking about getting Oh OK together to play a benefit for Ingrid, and wanted to know where I thought would be a good place to hold it. She said she was looking into getting some more bands together and maybe have an art auction too. I said to contact Little Kings, which she did, and voila! NED Fest!

Beautiful artwork from Michael Oliveri, Sam Seawright and Andy Cherewick

First of all, Ingrid is our lovely sweet talented FUN friend who is beating breast cancer's ass for the second time.

The Lovely Ingrid

She had it once before in 1995 (is that right, Ing?) and had been cancer-free until this year, when they found something under her arm. She has undergone six rounds of chemo and is facing it all like a total trooper (not moany groney at all!) and since she's way up in Boston, we wanted to do something to help her out, long-distance wise. NED stands for "No Evidence of Disease", Ingrid's goal which she will reach, I have no doubt. So NED Fest seemed appropriate as the title of the party!

Volunteers extraordinaire Rebecca, Amy and Asia

I enlisted KO, planning superstar,

The Lovely KO

and we got Kim too, since she has gallery experience, and we took over the auction/art side of the night, while Lynda focused on bands and t-shirts. We ended up with fourteen artists, 23 works of art, one vacation package, three yoga packages, a book package, two REM collectors' items and two sets of jewelry sent in by two different jewelers. We raised $5000 on the art, door donations and t-shirt sales, plus another $5000 someone donated in an anonymous check.

Sunny, KO, Marianne, Lynda and John, with birdhouse he won

Here are some action shots of the evening:

After the wonderful event at Little Kings, after we finished up the bands and closed the auction and distributed the goods, we went to KO's room at the hotel for an after-party. Of course, things soon devolved into old school craziness which lasted till 5:00 am:

All in all a great success! And only a teeny hangover on Saturday!

Hellooooo

I'm super busy, but wanted to drop in and say hi to my faithful readers. TONS of news but it will have to be posted after my trip to Athens. More later.