The dwindling summer days

Know hope, originally uploaded by Alta Marie.

What a great week it has been!
I've been taking a million photos. Packing a million boxes. Seeing friends, eating great food and getting ready for the big move.

I've been playing with a million different layouts with my new floorplan and furniture cutouts, imagining what on earth we'll do with three times as much space as we have now (hallelujah!)

Meanwhile, Drake finally has some time off in Colorado and tells me of meals out and swims in glacial lakes... summer is finally unfurling in all its glory

Feeling a bit overwhelmed...

chicago-5399, originally uploaded by Alta Marie.

In case any of you are tracking my whereabouts, wondering when I might be staying at your home or am visitable, I present to you my schedule for the next three weeks. (I also present to you this cat, Maui, who had such beautiful sea-blue eyes.)

July 13-18 NYC wrap up/pack up. I will be lunching/dinner-ing, shooting headshots, and doing a photowalk

July 19-22 Colorado visit. Seeing shows shooting fight scenes, doing headshots

July 23-24 (25?) in MA to pick up MA stuff, truck and my brothers

July 25-28th-ish Michigan!

July 30-August 2 Birthday extravaganza (not my birthday, my friends. It will rule all birthdays)

August 3-4 NYC- Drake comes home
(Michigan at some point)

August 8-? Dallas to visit/get our stuff

August 15- begin permanent(ish) residence in MI

I'm planning to have some sort of crying fit/breakdown somewhere between the 8th and 15th. Probably whilst driving the second moving truck up from Texas. Just planning ahead...

The wheels in my head are turning...

old time radio., originally uploaded by sunsandbeach123.

And I'm thinking that I would like to do a podcast. "Alta's Old-Time Radio Podcast" or something of that ilk wherein it is indicated that I will be hosting and also that Old-Time radio songs will be incorporated. And here's how...

My Memere at one time or another 30 years or more ago made an excellent barter-- she traded her hair salon services for a player piano. This is the piano that I learned to play on. Sometimes when she was watching General Hospital (that was my practice time-- 3-4 in the afternoon) I would sneak a piano roll in and pretend that I was playing. I would smack the keys at random intervals and yell "OH NO! I HATE PRACTICING!" to make it seem legit.

So when I return to Massachusetts in 2 weeks (God help me. I am not ready to move!) I will pack up the piano rolls and take them with me to Michigan. I will do this because then we will find a player piano (I've already located an appropriate candidate) and I will host a radio show. This way too, if people come to visit me I can have them on as guests. (see! it won't just be ice-fishing!!)

Heads up, Greg and Ben, as my first visitors(/movers) in Michigan, you will be my first guests and since won't yet have secured my player piano, I invite you to sing your much lauded version of "Rock me Momma Like a Wagon Wheel" (we'll have to splice in Dad on the spoons)

A new day is a'comin' ladies and gentleman...

Day 2

I will Live Positively... The diet coke told me to..., originally uploaded by Jill Kings.

I was speaking with my dear friend A recently about how she quit smoking. One of the things that struck me about the way that she did it was that she didn't phrase it as "quitting." She knew she could smoke if she wanted to, but decided that she didn't want to. She chose not to.

I've decided to try this to break myself of Diet Coke. This might seem ridiculous and laughable, but I do feel strongly that this is a real addiction! Google "Diet Coke addiction" and see all of the sites that come up. This is no joke.

I'm behaving like an addict too, marking off the hours or days that I've successfully not had a diet coke. I've purchased a number of substitute beverages to scratch the itch... (2 cases of diet snapple-- and DON'T tell me that that's not any better because of the aspartame! I can't handle it! A girl's gotta live)

I have to say that this isn't the first time that I've tried to stop, but this is the most successful--at a whopping 2 days, which should tell you something about the addictive properties, or about my self-restraint...
I think it's because I do feel like it's a choice. I am choosing not to permit Diet Coke to act as formeldahyde and pickle my insides (something that I heard from a former addict.) I decided not to snatch the little 8 oz can that's been in the fridge at work for months, and now that I think of it is probably mine from a leftover business meeting so I should drink it and just get it out of the way.... I could if I wanted, but I decided not to.

I hope to decide not to drink Diet Coke for a long while. I'll let you know how it's going. If you find asleep at my desk, go grab that little 8oz can. I'm pretty sure it's mine.

Blogging vs. living

PJ and Whiteface, originally uploaded by Alta Marie.

I am sparse here!

In the battle of blogging vs. living, living is winning (I'm always glad of that.) It's strange, that when you have the most you want to share/talk about/think about you hardly have the time to do so.

Since the last entry I have gone home to MA to visit, photographed a wedding, and gone to Lake Placid for 4th of July. It was so wonderful there (as always) and I ate too much and relaxed a lot and spent a wonderful few days with many friends who I will miss terribly when we move.

My attempts to lure people to Michigan with promises of ice-fishing and cookies are falling flat in most cases. I hope to throw in the added lure of a player piano with countless piano rolls of hits of the 30's and 40's AND several operas. This WILL happen. mark my words-- Mom, that means you too. When we get a functioning player piano you're coming over to sing "It takes a long long train with a red caboose to carry my blues away" Ben do you remember that? that was your favorite player piano song when you were little and the piano worked. Ah memories...

Too bad Hammy (the hamster) ate the internal workings of the piano years ago before he died in a horrible hamster rollercoaster incident.