Mercoledì Nessun Parole Numero Tre

The First Day of Our 17th Year

(editor's note: Settle in, this one's a doozy.)

Dear Boo,

Before I go any further I would just like to point out that when we jokingly made up pet names, mine for you went on to sweep the hip hop world. Because despite the fact that I'm a goober, I can totally start trends. Decorated vests for women? That was me, too. Sorry about that.

Ummm... where was I? Oh yes. Today we celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. Pretty weird, huh? Time is a strange and complicated thing. On the one hand, it seems like just yesterday. (What? I'm not still 19? This can not be!) On the other, it seems a lifetime ago. (Good grief, I feel like I'm a hundred.) But in a good way. We started out young, you cradle robber, you. Fortunately, we grew up together and not apart. Ours is a "Princess Bride" sort of romance - heavy on the humorous banter and dry wit. Flowers and cards have never much been your style. Instead, luckily for me, you have a talent for giving the fabulously unexpected. If our audience will indulge me, I will submit a few examples.

I admit, I can't remember if this and this were for our first Christmas or my birthday. I do remember that I cried, because these were pictures I took in Germany in 1987 and you knew how much the memory of that trip meant to me. We were completely broke that year and I wasn't expecting much. Major points, babe.

With Christmas 1991 came one of my favorite gifts of all time. I miss him.

Thank you for taking this out one day to get it washed, and coming back with this. Wow. WOW. Seriously.

Thanks for coming here with me. I very much enjoyed showing you this and this and this (despite your seeming complaints of "basilica butt" and the overabundance of the depiction of Mary and The Christ Child). To be able to share a place that I love so much with you was a gift in and of itself.

The best was a gift we gave each other. This one showed up a little early. And, boy, is it the gift that keeps on growing and growing and Holy Adolescence, Batman, growing. Even though I can't remember you changing one diaper ::AHEM::, thank you for being a great Dad.

Thank you for putting up with my bad traits and (mostly - heh) appreciating my good ones. And for your patience when I freak out a little about life's R.O.U.S's. (Really, people, it's just a little - in general I'm pretty low maintenance. Right, hon? RIGHT?) Thank you for all the hard work you've put into our house. And for putting the toilet seat AND lid down, right from the beginning. Let's work on the beard hairs all over the bathroom sink, though, shall we? Thank you for cooking me some fab meals. I miss you doing the grocery shopping, though. I hate going to the grocery store. ::SAP ALERT:: To sum up, (and to wrap up, so as to not bore the masses) thanks for being the sort of husband I need to traverse the Fire Swamp. You're too good to me.

Love yer body, Larry.

Google Referred - AT LAST!

WOOHOO!! I'm disproportionately excited that I have finally had a Goggle Referral! AND... I'm the second site listed! I made a top ten! How many more exclamation points can I use before it becomes annoying?!? Oh. Too late.

Check me out, peeps:



p.s. I know the picture is hard to read, but any bigger and it drops my sidebar. You can better believe that now that I've (sorta) figured out how to change my background, my next goal is to figure out how to make the main area bigger.

Dear Old Golden Rule Daze

It's that time of the year again. The time of year when I begin to dread the coming of the morn. I trudge to bed in the knowledge that with the dawn comes much gnashing of teeth. Threats. Shouting. Recriminations. Crying (mostly mine).

I birthed a night owl which means that my nights are framed by the struggle to get The Girl to GO TO BED, ALREADY and then GET UP, ALREADY. Yesterday was the first day of school and she amazed us by getting up rAHEally early. This resulted in a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. You can see where this is going? Yup. Up late last night. As I was already resigned to the fact that she would get out of bed a thousand times for various reasons (mostly to torment me and whiiiiiine), I relented and we vegged in my room and bonded over a couple episodes of Invader Zim. This morning could have been worse. It could have been better, but it could have been worse. I didn't have to poke the snarling, bad-tempered little tiger with a stick. But don't think I won't if it comes right down to it. Because I have, and I'm not afraid to do it again.

Personality Test Monday #3 - You Know You Love It.

You know the drill: take the test, put your results in the comments. Cuz it's all about you. Uh. Yeah.
I must say this one is pretty spot on for me. I totally talk to myself when I'm upset. And music? Must have it.

You Communicate With Your Ears

You love conversations, both as a listener and a talker. What people say is important to you, and you're often most affected by words, not actions. You love to hear complements from others. And when you're upset, you often talk to yourself. Music is very important to you. It's difficult to find you without your iPod.

How Do You Communicate?

Photobooth Friday #8 - The Ocho!

click on pic to see larger size

We're a little more feminine this week, my darlings. A beauty from St. Louie. I think my favorite is the first photo - I adore that jacket and hat!

Photobooth Peeps:
LeSophie
hula seventy
my kid

The Why of "Velvet Vox"

Katherine (btw, I'm realizing that all the people on my 'roll are, like, attractive) asked me earlier how I came up with the name of my blawg. Firstly, to clarify - the only place I sing is in my car. What I am good at is speaking. I'd always wanted to be an actor, but life happens and I was inside sales/customer service for a wholesale building supply company for 16 years. I honed my phone voice into a velvety customer service machine. Actually, I was mistaken for a machine at least once a day. It usually went like this:

Me: Thank you for calling @#$%& Building Products. How may I help...BEEPBEEPBEEP

Me: Uh. Hellooooo?

Them: What? Hello? Oh. Sorry. I thought you were an automated voice!

So, I used my feminine wiles and velvet vox to sell plywood and particleboard and lumber to sweaty guys who probably needed to shave. They ate it up. They all cried when I left. And my office closed. Before I left, our LA office asked me to do the messages on their automated system, so my old customer still get to hear me say the magic words: "Thank you for calling @#$%& Building Products." I am a legend. LOL

Long story short: Thought I might be able to make money with my speaking voice. Took a couple classes. Years passed. Finally did a demo. Quit my job. (Between 45 mile round trip commute in some of the areas worst traffic and losing the ability to deal with irritating people - I was one angry, unhappy girl.) Now, theoretically, I'm supposed to be pursuing a career in voice-over. At some point I decided that "Velvet Vox" was a nice little tagline/marketing gimmick.

You can hear the one audio post I've done so far here, if you haven't already. And as soon as I can remember my logon for the site I used to host it, I'll upload a track from my actual demo.

The end.

A Brief Photo Intermission

First, I would just like to say, completely apropos of nothing except that it happened the instant I started this post, a Model-T just drove down our (very quiet, hidden) street and it had a For Sale sign on it. I waaaant it. ::sniff::

Anywho, to tide j'all over until I post actual words, I present to you My Spawn. I call this one "All Up In Her Grill". What? Oh please. No frontin' - you know when you were a kid you took foil and made a "grill". Us middle class bored kids totally did it waaaaay before them rappahs. ::ahem::



p.s. Don't let that adorable "aren't I so cute?" smile fool you. (I say that for her benefit - to protect her street cred.)

Wordless Wednesday #2

Personality Test Monday #2

I'm such a dope. I completely forgot that it is Personality Test Monday!

Ready for it? Here we go.....Don't forget - take the test, post your results in the comments!

You Are Best Described By...

Eye By M.C. Escher

What Famous Work of Art Are You?