Viva Espana!

These lovely paintings take you through the last 500 years of women as subjects in paintings. Along with the cello playing it creates a wonderfully serene interlude! Ah...I can't wait to lean back in the tiny little seat on the 6:30 flight to Madrid on Wednesday night and enjoy (I hope) the feeling of readiness! Ready for the meetings, the presentations, and the fun of my annual conference in Barcelona.

I'm flying into Madrid for a 36 hour art seeking interlude. Armed with Balance Bars and bottled water I'll hike from the Prado to the Thyssen-Bornemisa Museum to the Picasso Museo soaking it all up!

So, today is September 22, and its been months since my glorious trip to Spain; I returned to more work than I could imagine, more work than was fair for the doggy days of summer! Good intentions aside, posting to my blog didn't happen. So pretend this is just June 15th, just for a moment and enjoy my trip highlights.

I did just as I said above; I arrived in Madrid, grabbed a cab to my hotel; slept for 45 minutes and headed out the door w/out the balance bars and with a taste for gazpacho! I was just 100 yards or so from the Central Park of Madrid and all those art museos on my list; plus others I wasn't aware of: I was in art heaven!

The Thyssen-Bournemisa had a faboo visiting VanGogh show so I saw that and then wandered around the rest of the mueso, stopping for lunch of, you guessed it, gazpacho and a fruit salad which turned out to be so much more with a cloud of some sweet puffy meringue on top! After a cruise through the gift shop where I dropped mucho euros on postcards I headed off in search of Picasso's Guernica. Arguably, Guernica is the most powerful work Picasso created as it memorializes while simultaneously rages against the wanton bombing of innocents in the village of Guernica and the horrors of the impending German invasion and Franco's Spanish Civil War. This piece sits in it's own room and is immense; in a huge panel that just lost myself in for a long time. It is in its way timeless and dated; timeless because slaughter of innocents continues all over the world; dated because Picasso is so present in the art world today. Nonetheless, its power is undeniable and in your face. It is my favorite sort of art; art that speaks, no screams to the imperative for justice, democracy, and the value of human life.

The next day, I spent hours in the Prado soaking up the Velazquez and Goya paintings. The Goya masterpiece, The Shootings of May Third 1808 was perhaps an inspiration to Picasso as it personifies the horrors of war by it's tight close up on the execution of a bedraggled group of soldiers. I was by this time fairly bedraggled myself from hiking all over Madrid in search of masterpieces. So I grabbed my bags, paid my bill, and jumped on the first class train to Barcelona where my gal pals and conference awaited. More Spain, mas tarde!

Land of the Lazy, Home of the Helpless

Let me just say it here & say it clear...HELPLESSNESS IS NOT ATTRACTIVE OR SEXY! Feelin' me here, boyz?

Blondie's men appear to be suffering from a pervasive, profound, condition of chronic lazy helplessness (CLH)! Blondie's been traveling a bit these last few weeks: two days at a conference in Philly, Chicago for a weekend wedding (Blondie's hubby wasn't up for the fun, alas.) On her next trip, last week, she took an iddy-biddy nycthemeron to her former home, NYC, how she misses it! Upon her return...she discovered not one dish washed, counter wiped, or bed made. And in the case of son-of-Blondie...not one article of clothing remained above floor level!

Coming up is a 10 day conference in Barcelona and the CLH epidemic doesn't appear to be waning! Nor does it augur well for a pleasant homecoming. But Blondie's practicing lowering her standards even further. Believe me, they've eroded DRAMATICALLY since her blissful days of living alone in her NYC co-op. Well I know, it's best not to live in the past...and Blondie is all over planning for her future and the next exciting phase of her life when son-of-Blondie goes off into the greater world of college!

What to do? How to handle it? Should I care? Should I worry that they seem utterly incapable of flushing the toilets on a regular basis, hanging up their clothes, much less washing their clothes for that matter! Where is Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and her wise counsel when I need it? I am in mind of that wonderful AA tenet...change the things you can, invoke a higher power, and let go of the rest...or something like that. I doubt hubby will ever change nor will a higher power intervene in the tidying up of Blondie's abode. But I can hold a little economic sway over son-of-Blondie by incentive-izing him! So that's the strategy for now along with grudging resignation and the backing off of any standards. Advice welcomed! As well as great restaurants in Barcelona.

Scrotum... SCROTum... SCROTUM... SCROTUMMM!!!

Huh?! What the hell! God help me, this is one of those stories that gives my chosen profession, one of the oldest on the planet, librarian, a woefully pathetic--terminally un-hip name. And, just when we need as much positive PR as we can get...when the prevailing misconception of our imminent demise abounds...these pathetic excuses for professional librarians take it into their heads that the word SCROTUM as spoken by Lucky, the spunky (oops, was that a bad word too?) main character in the ALA Newberry Award winning kid's book, The Higher Power of Lucky. Scrotum, a word that appears in most medical texts and medical indexing all over the planet is NOT a naughty, dirty word (actually its quite a fun word to speak repetitively while sipping a cosmo in flagrante delicto with your favorite scrotum toting pal!)

Scrotum is THE preferred word for that anatomical spot. It is not, nor has it ever been, a 'dirty' word. This kind of ridiculous harumphing is just what gives us librarians a bad name; gives us a rep for being finger to the mouth, shushing, bun wearing, glasses on the nose, pinched faced, old biddie stereotypes. When in fact we need to be getting the message out to one and all that librarians are essential, critical to the information literacy skills training/development that ALL library users--youngest to oldest--require to take them forward into our knowledge and information-based future. For those of you librarians out there who disagree with me...find a real issue like increased funding for public and school libraries, funding for developing information literacy skills training or outreach to under-served populations. Scrotum! Who cares!

Two Down - None Left. . . .

So, picture this...the other night at 10:30 after foregoing dinner prep for my son's bibliography creation (History Day is due on Thursday, need I say more?), Blondie's hubby discovers to his utter and complete horror he is without peanut butter! What to do? Well, Blondie was itching to get out of the house and the grocery store, if not a cosmo-with-the-girls opportunity, was a destination bound to provide solace and loud rock n roll for at least 20 minutes--respite from bibliographic hell! My car, the green machine is 12 years old and in the shop, hubby's car is a ripe 16 years...and half a mile from home the clutch...well, the clutch clutched and no gears would shift...luckily I coasted through the intersection and landed in the Temple drive way...at least the heater and the radio continued blasting!

So, AAA came and towed me...leaving me to take public transport in a circuitous route to work the next morning. I love walking...thankfully!

Though, as it happens to be Valentine's Day and almost the end of the winter holiday season...the gifting season, specifically. I still don't have that 'gift' my beloved promised me in December, i.e. a new car. Okay, it is a big gift and he does get off the hook for gifts for the next few years...but from where I sit I can see not much action on the acquisition side of this 'gift', leading me to believe it is only a stall tactic for the shopping impaired spouse...you feelin' me here, girl friends?!

Hair Spray: The Metaphor

Oh boy, where's Blondie going with this one? Well it's quite obvious, when Blondie thinks about the qualities of a wicked great hair spray: stickiness, stiffness, long last-ness, and shiny-ness, friends come to mind!

Friday night, my CLM gal pals threw me a cosmo & chardonnay fueled birthday dinner. These gals and I worked together for 5 years over 10 years ago! They were there for Blondie in the good times when I was pregnant and had my super son, or when we scored a huge success with Club G-Med, and the bad--when I was the target of the month for a maniacal boss. We've been friends for almost 17 years! So, is that not sticky? not long lasting? with shining moments of success and support? Spells wicked great hair spray to me! Sometimes, there is a moment when women walk into your life and you know instantly that they'll be there, for always! And all I can say, is Phyll, JR, SM, EW, and AR you'll always will be on my Hair Spray Honor Roll of Fabulous Friends--Best Friends Forever!

On Wednesday, Di & Munya took me to breakfast, and we dished and noshed and drank gallons of coffee kicking off my week of birthday blasts. Gifts were in the mix, too. Amazing how the name of something, in this case wicked bold nail polish, can set a tone. Well how's Women Without Boundaries do for setting a fab birthday tone? And Cherries Jubilee lipstick? What's not celebratory about that? At this stage in my life, everyday is a gift, and so by definition, is every birthday! After racewalking 7 miles Wednesday afternoon, my hubby and son took me to dinner which, after all that hoofing earned me a pomegranate martini! Ahhh, how sublime it was! And bless my hubby, he organized a little birthday cake w/Paulette & Steve back at our house.

For me, life is made most meaningful by my friends! By the steadfast and constant and wonderful support of great, good friends...and while I am thankful for each day, I am most thankful for this! Plus, of course, martinis and hairspray!

Pilates & Personas

Most Sunday mornings around 9:15 you can find me slurping my mocha java warm up for Pilates class. I love Pilates class. We're mostly moms, mostly middle aged, mostly in need of ab tightening, gluteous maximus tightening and most mostly--60 minutes of uninterrupted ME time! I love Pilates most when our intrepid and infinitely kind instructors sans any hint of subcutaneous fat or cellulite, asks what's bothering anyone today? And, girlfriends, they actually listen, unlike those Y-challenged chromosomes I live with. Ultimately, I love Pilates the very most, when it's over! When all those tight, tired, tweaked, and previously toneless 'core muscles' are smoking hot and ready to take on the rest of the day. If the homework gods are feeling kind, I go home, put my walking shoes on, and head off for a 6 mile jaunt around town and up the bike path (with a stop at Starbucks for a venti to fuel that 7th mile). Alas, sometimes those gods have me dead in their sites and my aerobic output is eclipsed by history day and preterit tenses and my only calories burned come by walking up and down the aisles of the supermarket late Sunday night.

Surely this is my fault, I think as I ponder the price of lima beans and dissect how I lost control of my 'Sunday time' for catching up on that presentation I'm giving Tuesday, or the search engine I need to finish for work, or the rocking chair awaiting refinishing, the floor I need to install, or the novel I've been plotting, the list goes on. I'm just now thinking it's a sort of traffic flow issue in my persona management system--that's the culprit! My Mom persona always seems to trump the rest of them: athlete, professional, cook, artist, fashionista and blonde bombshell. We girls schlep a multitude of roles through our days and weeks. Does anyone notice the juggle struggle besides us? Food for thought; this is one recipe we won't find so easily in Blondie's Recipe Box search engine.

New Years Day, 2007

Wow, here we are, a brand spanking new year...2007! I don't know about you all, but I'm still enjoying that fun foggy feeling after my fabulous annual new year's bash last night; complete with kick-ass champagne punch, Blondie style: champagne, brandy, triple sec, Chambord, unsweetened pineapple juice, diet ginger ale (Blondie makes her calories count!); it was smooth and delicious! Quaffing the last drops as I cleaned up, I reviewed my '06 memories. Blondie always reflects after a great party on how fortunate, how blessed she is with her friends and family. My gal pals, my sisters in the hood, my mommy posse...you know who you are...I couldn't survive marriage and adolescence with out you!

So, new years resolutions? Have you any? I have so many, too many to say, some too secret to type, some mundane: lose more weight; walk further and faster each day; work harder at my chosen profession; work harder on my own personal projects (Ebay sales, Bar Mitzvah scrap book, mini-scrapbook for my new Aunt Pat, Cousin Don & Betty, Lynne & Lisa); organize my life and work better; start that novel; hang out with my friends more; procrastinate less; use fewer exclamation points! and Blonde Blog More! Write me a comment and tell me yours!

A New Year - A New Blonde Blog

So here I am, it's almost 2007, and I've got a million other things I should be doing, though none as interesting to me as getting this blog up and on it's way.

Blondie's Recipe Box is my new platform for: Meditations on Food, Friendship, Life, Love, Marriage, Motherhood, and Martinis...As Well As Accessories, and the Search for a Wicked Stiff Hair Spray.

Blondie!? I can hear the yelping now. My girlfriends will be way up in my grill over this...why would I use Blondie when all around are having great fun telling blonde jokes? Well, in my whole long blonde life, the moniker Blondie always connoted ditzy. So, just as the lesbians took back Dyke, releasing it from derogatory purgatory; I'm declaring Blondie officially liberated! So, stick around for some blonde fun, whatever your hair color.