Picture of the Day for 3/31/2010. Our office "Biggest Loser" contest ended yesterday and the results were published today. I lost 10.4 pounds since January. Not too bad. As you can see, I cut out the last names of my work colleagues. I figured they wouldn't appreciate having their weight loss results posted on the Internet for all to see.
Picture of the Day for 3/30/2010. My friend Karl and I were shopping at a novelty store called Cabin Fever tonight when we stumbled across some very amusing board games. My favorite was "The Crazy Cat Lady Game." Wikipedia defines a crazy cat lady as "a woman, usually a spinster, who dotes upon her cat." Sadly, I meet the criteria required to be one. The only thing that saves me from this pathetic fate is my allergies. I love cats, but can't have one in my house.
Second only to "The Crazy Cat Lady Game" in entertainment value was "Mr. Bacon's BIG Adventure."
Picture of the Day for 3/29/2010. Until this evening, this entire ledge was covered with stacks of books two feet high. Problem was, they weren't mine- they belonged to my parents. Nothing against my parents' books- they are very lovely and now safely stowed away in the basement bookshelves. I just didn't have room for my things. Pretty soon this entire ledge will be covered with two foot high stacks of MY books. It will be a good space to lay out my books as I unpack and organize them.
Picture of the Day for 3/28/2010. Mmm...Yummy Potatoes. That's a true statement in general, but in this instance it's the name of of a recipe book I bought today. The book opens with the statement that "potatoes are wonderful." Yeah- no kidding. Yummy potato recipes would be sufficient reward for purchasing the book, but the big bonus turned out to be the fact it was written by one of my all-time favorite cookbook authors- Marlena Spieler. I didn't realize this until I got home and started paging through the recipes. I love Spieler. She reminds me of The Barefoot Contessa and Paula Deen. All of them look well-fed ("never trust a skinny cookbook author" is my motto) and they are fond of using butter and cream. Another bonus was the fact that I purchased the book for 40% off $2.99. Cheap yummy potatoes- it doesn't get better than that.
Picture of the Day for 3/27/2010. I went wild at my favorite boutique today. (Favorite boutique = Solissa in Sugarhouse, UT). I bought two pairs of shoes, one shirt, one scarf, and one pair of earrings. Total tally was $350. Gulp. I'm not used to spending that much money on clothes. No regrets though. I'm happy with all my purchases.
Picture of the Day for 3/26/2010. This is a portrait of Emma Smith (wife of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church) hanging in the new Deseret Book store that opened in downtown Salt Lake City yesterday. Since the store is right next door to my office, some colleagues and I snuck out of work to check out the grand opening. I was rather transfixed by this portrait which has a price tag of $7,500. My co-workers laughed and said of course I would hone in on the most expensive item in the store. I returned to the store today and ran into the artist, Julie Rogers, who gave me permission to take a photograph of the picture.
Picture of the Day for 3/25/2010. This is the coffee shop where my Tarot buddies (Kelly and Mary) and I meet on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month to do "Tarot for Hire" - a fancy term for "we do 30-minute palm and Tarot card readings for $30." Some nights we don't get any customers so we just spend the time chatting and doing readings for each other. Others nights we do a brisk business. We've had steady business for the past month or so which has been nice.
Picture of the Day for 3/24/2010. When I investigated why my purse felt so unusually heavy, I discovered an entire jar of peanut butter. I had tucked it away in my purse to take to work to have on hand for lunches, but had completely forgotten its existence between home and the office. Sheesh. I swear some day I'm going to find a xylophone or harp stashed away in my purse.
Picture of the Day for 3/23/2010. This was my view for most of the day today. I stayed home sick and spent the day on the couch, watching the following programs:
-A documentary on the P-39 (a World War ll-era plane). A conversation with an aviation-buff friend of mine revealed that this plane was good in air-to-ground battles, but not air-to-air battles. Apparently, the U.S. never figured this out, but the Russians did. This is good to know. ;-)
-A documentary on the P-47 (another World War ll-era plane). I only caught the tail-end of this documentary, but according to Walter Boyne, a famous aviation historian, this plane would have come in handy a couple of years before the U.S had the technology to produce it.
-The season finale of the USA Network's "Burn Notice." This actually aired a couple of weeks ago. Gotta love cable on demand.
-The Food Network. I'm not sure that I would go for the salami salad that Sunny Anderson was promoting.
-More Food Network. Giada DeLaurentis really needs to dye her dark roots.
-Even more Food Network. I really, really want to be the Barefoot Contessa's friend and attend the fabulous parties she throws.
-Judge Judy. She was as irascible as usual. A college-age young man discovered that beer spilled on your laptop fries it and necessitates $500 in repairs. He also learned that he can't sue the woman hosting the party where the unfortunate beer/laptop incident occurred, no matter how smirky the woman was. Judge Judy encouraged him to locate and sue the actual culprit.
-American Idol. Miley Cyrus as guest mentor??? Really???
-A profile of the FBI's current and past 10 Most Wanted lists. Kinda creepy.
-A documentary on famous sniper hits.
I don't know what got into me today. For some reason, I was all about watching the Military Channel. Maybe it was the illness...
Picture of the Day for 3/22/2010. My niece Renee held a Dancing with the Stars party tonight. She did it not because she loves this show (in fact, I don't think she's ever seen it before tonight). She did it because she LOOOOOOOVES Evan Lysacek, one of the celebrity dancers with whom she is very smitten. One of the other celebrity dancers is Buzz Aldrin. Now, for those of you who know me and endure me, you are aware that I'm ALL about the astronauts. Not in this instance, however. Aldrin's performance was painfully disturbing. Eek.
You thought I was done inflicting details about last week's soup cook-off at work, didn't you? Ha, ha, ha (that was maniacal laughter, by the way). That is so sad you thought that. Actually, I'm almost ready to lay the episode to rest. A co-worker emailed this picture of me (the winner) and Nimmy (the loser) to the office today. I really shouldn't give Nimmy crap about being a loser. Her soup was excellent and I really thought she was going to win.
I was speaking with a colleague at work about a natural sleep aid he's taking. When I asked him to identify the product, he merely described it as "organic nature crap." Made me laugh.
Picture of the Day for 3/21/20010. I haven't seen the top of the dining room table since I moved in to my parents' house several months ago. I couldn't stand it any longer so I spent the evening clearing it off. The results of my efforts can be seen below. Now if I could only work up the zeal required to get the ENTIRE house in order. It's all so overwhelming. And the house is so very pink (my least favorite color). Sigh...
Picture of the Day for 3/20/2010. Went out to dinner with my nieces, Corinne and Renee. During the course of the evening, it was revealed that all three of us have geeky glasses. Once I discovered that, I knew it had to be my picture of the day. Corinne and Renee had been successfully hiding their glasses while I was openly wearing mine. I tend to take a break from wearing my contacts on the weekends. I've discovered that an odd side effect of having lost some weight is that my glasses are a little loose on me. They don't hug the side of my head as tightly now and I constantly have to push them up the bridge of my nose.
Picture of the Day for 3/19/2010. I'm ready for winter to be over! During the cold season, I wear my traditional uniform of either black or brown dress boots. In honor of the fact that spring is just around the corner, I bought the most frivolous pair of red, girly sandals. I can't wait to wear them.
Picture of the Day for 3/18/2010. While I was out of the office this afternoon, my colleague Richard Larsen's wife (also named Michelle) wrote this greeting on my whiteboard. I've known both Richard and Michelle for 15 years- for as long as I've been employed at my job. It was fun to look up from my desk and see this friendly message.
Picture of the Day for 3/17/2010. I won the soup cook-off at work! (OK- I only won by one vote, but it's still a victory!) Yay! As the winner, I was awarded the golden ladle. As the loser, Nimmy was forced to wear the Soup Nazi hat. As punishments go, that wasn't too bad.
Whew! I can now get on with my life. I'm looking forward to doing something different during the evenings than testing soup recipes.
Picture of the Day for 3/16/2010. Here's the score. Soup: 3; Michelle: 0. My third attempt at making a tasty batch of soup was spectacularly unsuccessful. I just got done making a double-batch of corn chowder using the recipe my sister Paula said was no fail. (The picture above is of the corn chowder "in progress." I had to hurry and take a picture of it in order to capture my "picture of the day" before midnight. Who knew corn chowder took an unseemly number of hours to make?) I followed the instructions to the letter and it turned out horrible! LOL. I can't in good conscience serve the chowder to my co-workers for the soup cook-off challenge at work. I do have a no fail tomato soup recipe that I was avoiding using since my office adores that soup. Nimmy (my soup cook-off challenger) and I were supposed to be anonymous, but I don't care anymore. I'll get up early, run to the store, and buy the ingredients for the tomato soup. It's super easy and shouldn't take me long to make. I'm starting to hate soup...
Picture of the Day for 3/15/2010. I got roped into participating in a soup cook-off at work on Wednesday. We instituted these cook-offs last year. Here are the rules:
1- Two people cook the same item (i.e., peach pie, lasagna) using the recipe of their choice.
2- A panel of judges tastes both offerings and votes for their favorite.
3- The two participants engage in a LOT of smack talk.
4- The two participants mutually agree upon a heinous punishment for the loser.
My colleague Nimmy and I are blatantly violating Rules #3 and #4. We're OK with providing soup (the rest of the office has signed up to bring other food items for lunch), but we can't summon up the energy to talk smack to each other and I categorically refuse to submit to a punishment of any kind. My punishment has been my failed experiments with soup recipes. I tried a baked-potato soup last night. It didn't go well. Tonight's attempt was French onion soup. It didn't go well. I've got another recipe in mind that I'll try tomorrow night. It MUST go well since it's my last resort before Wednesday's competition. Not that I'm panicking. Eek...
Picture of the Day for 3/14/2010. Sometimes I take pictures just for their high cute factor. I was walking into a store at a strip mall today, happened to look down, and saw these two ducks just hanging out by the sidewalk. Very cute. They didn't seem too alarmed that I stopped in my tracks and whipped out my camera to take a picture of them.
Picture of the Day for 3/13/2010. I met my nieces for dinner tonight at Siegfried's, a German deli in downtown Salt Lake. While I was waiting for my nieces to arrive, I was browsing the small grocery section and came across this package of Jam Express that promised I could make jam in under 10 minutes- no sugar required. Who could resist such a promise? Not I. All of a sudden, an intense desire to make jam overcame me. I had no choice but to purchase this product. If I do actually end up making jam, that will definitely be a picture of the day.
Picture of the Day for 3/12/2010. Wonder of wonders, my friend Karl was actually free to see a movie tonight. We tried to see Alice in Wonderland, but by the time we arrived in the theater, the only available seats were on the front row. Not an option. Our next choice was The Hurt Locker. We knew we SHOULD see it since the movie won the Academy Award for best picture and all, but we were a little worried that the following things might result from viewing the film:
1- We might learn something.
2- We might be edified.
3- We might feel serious, complex emotions.
As supremely shallow individuals, this terrified us, but we decided to risk it anyway. Thankfully, we did not come out of the movie better human beings than when we first entered the theater. Whew. The movie was excellent, but I don't need to see it again.
Picture of the Day for 3/11/2010. When it comes to exercising, I've been a committed treadmill gal until recently when a friend suggested I give the elliptical machines a try. Dang friend. Now I'm obsessed with the elliptical machines and increasing my time with each visit to the gym. Tonight I was up to 8 minutes. Doesn't sound impressive, but that's good for me.
Events conspired to make me embarrass myself at the gym. First of all, I had the most ferocious itch on the most unfortunate of locations- my bottom. (Sorry- I know that's TMI.) There were two guys on the treadmills directly behind me so I felt like it would be less than socially acceptable to reach back and scratch to my heart's content. Second, I was watching a documentary about United Flight 93 that had me in tears most of the time. I had to will myself not to sob out loud. Sheesh.
Picture of the Day for 3/10/2010. When you have a 6'2" tall father and a 5'0" mother, you end up with an odd assortment of body parts (no snarky comments from my readers please). I inherited my mother's itty bitty hands. Of course, it's all a matter of perspective. To me, my hands look normal and everyone else's hands look ginormous. This picture shows my hand compared to my 16-year old nephew Robbie's hand. I tell you, his hand looks ginormous. Now that my mother is gone, I'm glad I have her hands (not literally- that would creepy and ghoulish). They are a nice reminder of her.
Picture of the Day for 3/9/2010. I'm kind of cheating since this is a picture of a picture. I ADORE this photograph of me with Colonel Joe Cotton, a very famous test pilot.
This picture was taken on October 16, 2009 at the Gathering of Eagles, an event hosted by the Flight Test Historical Foundation in honor of the 50th anniversary of the X-15 program. A friend of mine sent the photograph to Joe Cotton to sign and I just received it in the mail yesterday. I didn't know it was coming so it was a delightful surprise. My header for this blog entry refers to Joe Cotton as my friend. I did that because included with the signed picture was a handwritten note from Cotton addressed to "My Friend Michelle." I melted when I saw that. My friend describes Cotton as a "class act." True statement.
Picture of the Day for 3/8/2010. Girl Scout cookies! Yay for Girl Scout cookies! Of course, I had no intention of buying them, but there comes a time when even the most formidable iron will crumbles before a relentless onslaught of Girl Scout cookies. I spent the weekend in Boise, ID. Turns out the place is crawling with Girl Scouts peddling the cookies on every street corner (I'm kind of not kidding). I was able to resist them all day Saturday and I was within 1/2 hour of leaving Boise on Sunday before I couldn't take it anymore. Hence, the three boxes of cookies displayed in my picture.
Picture of the Day for 3/7/2010. Some people make pilgrimages to religious sites around the world. Other people make pilgrimages to
locations that have played a significant role in history. I, on the other hand, have much more modest aspirations. I like to make occasional pilgrimages to Boise, ID with my friend Suzanne. Oh sure, we tell our friend Sharla that we've come to visit her,
but the truth is downtown Boise has great shops and restaurants. I dream about the chocolate shop pictured above. They sell a lemon, almond, and lavender flower bark that is so divine it makes your eyes roll back in your head. We had a brief moment of panic yesterday when it appeared the shop had gone out of business, but disaster was averted when we discovered it had moved to a new location around the corner. Whew.
Another place we like to frequent is the French cafe (pictured below) that is a block away from the capitol building.
And just to end this blog entry on a random note, below is a picture of the Boise river which ran right past our hotel.
Picture of the Day for 3/6/2010. It's tempting just to post pictures of Sharla's cute twins, but I thought I would actually include some photos of the adults. Pictured are Jeremiah (Sharla's husband), Sharla, and Suzanne. Since I didn't want to be left out of the action, below is a picture almost identical to the one above, except this time I'm the one standing next to Sharla.
Sharla, Suzanne, and I had a nice girls' day out together. We spent most of the day shopping and Jeremiah was nice enough to tend the kids while we were gone. After shopping, Sharla and Jeremiah drove us past some homes they are considering buying since they've outgrown their current home. After that, we returned to Sharla and Jeremiah's house where we spent the rest of the evening chatting and being amused by the twins. I was especially amused when Logan insisted that I take his picture next to the shiny red garbage can in the kitchen.
Not to be outdone by her brother, Lauren also insisted that I take a picture of her next to the garbage can as well.
Picture of the Day for 3/5/2010. This is a picture of my friend Sharla's 3-year old (almost) twins- Logan and Lauren. They are so cute it is painful. My friend Suzanne and I drove up to Boise to visit Sharla and her family for the weekend. This is the first time I've seen the twins since they were a few months old. They initially thought Suzanne and I were the 2nd coming of Satan, but they warmed up pretty quickly. The twins liked looking at the photos I have stored on my iPhone. I have a picture of my messy office at work which Logan found particularly concerning. He wanted to make sure my office was getting properly vacuumed. I assured him it was being taken care of.
Picture of the Day for 3/4/2010. I have a lamp in my bathroom, not for its cozy effect, but because I can't figure out how to pry off the covers of the dang light fixtures in order to change the burned out light bulbs. I moved into my parents' house a few months ago and the light bulbs are now just starting to burn out. I've never encountered light fixtures that stumped me before; otherwise, I might have had the foresight to ask my parents for directions while they were still living there. The light fixture pictured below is the biggest mystery to me. I kind of feel like I'm trying to figure out alien technology. I've poked and prodded the fixture without ever finding any discernible mechanisms to release the cover. So, until I crack this mystery, I'm making do with the lamp. At least I've got that technology down and I'm not forced to rely upon candlelight.
My sister Paula came across a church newsletter from July 6, 1973 where I was featured as the "Personality of the Week." The following is my write-up:
Michelle Merrill always makes her bed without being asked. She gets enjoyment from doing little things for others. Her pretty blue eyes make her special. She likes to sing and her family loves her very much.
Very cute! I suspect 1973 was the last time I voluntarily made a bed.
Picture of the Day for 3/3/2010. You know, I'm a fairly smart woman. I have a master's degree in English. I have a great career at a prominent international consulting firm.
It's safe to say that I have many accomplishments to my name. Despite all this, I'm no match when it comes to footwear. In January, I wrote a blog entry about how I ended up wearing one brown boot and one black boot, and only noticed this when it was too late for me to return home to change. I swore after that embarrassing event I would pay more attention when I'm putting on my shoes in the morning. That didn't last long. It was only after I arrived at work today that I noticed I was wearing brown boots with a black blouse and a skirt with a black background. Argh.In other wardrobe-related news, I still get a kick out of taking pictures of work colleagues who inadvertently end up dressed alike. (I know it's weird, but we all have our little hobbies.) Below is a picture of Nimmy and Emily who both decided green and black were the colors for the day.
Picture of the Day for 3/2/2010. I finally decided it was time to face the music and start assembling my tax documents. This should make my accountant happy since I'm a week late getting these documents to her.
Picture of the Day for 3/1/2010. I flew home today from Florida. The view of the Rocky Mountains from 35,000 feet in the air is always stunning. I'm surprised I was alert enough to take this picture since I had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to catch my flight.
Picture of the Day for 2/28/2010. The last day of Sleuthfest ended with a panel discussion. The participants were Barry Eisler, David Morrell, Oline Cogdill, and Neil Nyren. Barry and David are novelists, Oline is a journalist, and Neil is a BIG DEAL VP at Putnam's (see his bio below).
"Neil Nyren is senior vice president, publisher and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Among his authors of crime and suspense are Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Patricia Cornwell, Robert Crais, Jack Higgins, W.E.B. Griffin, John Sandford, Daniel Silva, Ken Follett, Frederick Forsyth, Randy Wayne White, Alex Berenson, C.J. Box, Ace Atkins, James O. Born and Carol O’Connell."
Stephen Cannell was supposed to be on the panel, but his wife had a medical emergency which forced them to leave the conference early.
Barry caused hearts to swoon since he is quite pretty (see picture below). Even more important (in my opinion) is he is really nice. He wrote a lovely inscription in the book I asked him to sign.
I ended up becoming friends with a couple of the authors- Diane Stuckart and Deborah Sharp. Diane and I bonded over Tarot cards. She's done a bit of research into the topic for one of her novels. Below is a picture of Diane with Al Abramson who is not a novelist, but a world-class smart-aleck. I got a kick out of him. Diane is making the "loser" sign (it became a running joke that we were sitting at the loser's table) and Al is making a "read between the lines" gesture with his fingers.
Sleuthfest ended at noon so I had the whole day ahead of me to explore the area. Deborah Sharp gave me the suggestion to go shopping on Las Olas Blvd in Fort Lauderdale (see picture below). I was geeking out the whole time since Elaine Viets' novels are set on this street.
I ate lunch at The Floridian on Las Olas. I loved the sentiment printed on the front cover of the menu.
After exploring Fort Lauderdale, I drove up north. Below is a snooty picture of a snooty beach in snooty Palm Beach.
Picture of the Day for 2/27/2010. Stephen Cannell was Guest of Honor #2 and the keynote speaker at today's luncheon. He's been involved as a writer/producer in TV shows too numerous to mention. OK, I'll mention just a couple- The Rockford Files and The A-Team. It has just been within the past few years that he turned to novel-writing. The major theme of his talk was "never give up." He spoke of the numerous obstacles he had to overcome (severe dyslexia which held him back a few years in school) before he made it in Hollywood. After college, he went to work for his dad, but spent every night for five or six years writing for 5 hours a day before he caught his big break. That is determination. If there's one thing I'm learning from this conference, becoming a writer is not for the faint of heart. It's a LOT of work- not just the writing, but looking for agents/publishers, doing the marketing for your books, etc. Cannell looks like he belongs in Hollywood, but I was impressed by his obvious devotion to his wife of 45 years.
I attended the following sessions today:
-Negotiating a Killer Contract
Avoiding deadly mistakes found in some contracts.
Donna Bagdasarian, Paul S. Levine (agent), Shannon Jamieson Vazquez
-How to Get an Agent
Authors and agents discuss the how-tos and how-not-tos.
Karen Harper, Michelle Brower, Barbara Poelle, Jack Cummings
-Hollywood War Stories
Tales from the trenches.
Stephen J. Cannell, Paul Levine (author)
-Randy’s Book Broads
Authors and booksellers chatting about the book biz.
Randy Rawls, Heather Graham, PJ Parrish (Kris & Kelly), Deborah Sharp, Joanne Sinchuk, Christine Kling
Picture of the Day for 2/26/2010. David Morrell was Guest of Honor #1 (there's a Guest of Honor #2 - I'll write about him later) and the keynote speaker at today's luncheon. He's the author of almost 30 novels, most notably "First Blood" upon which the Rambo movies are based. He is a nice guy. That seems to be true of all the authors I met- they are all really nice and approachable. The following are key points from his speech:
-He urged all of the writers to be a "1st rate you" rather than a 2nd rate author who chases market trends in publishing.
-One technique to writing fiction is to identify your dominant fear in life and explore that.
-Writing is "dramatizing daydreams."
I attended the following sessions today:
-CSI – TV
The Negative Factor
Real Science vs. the Science Fiction of CSI.
Al Hallonquist
-Sex: It Ain’t What It Used to Be
Write sex scenes so hot your fingertips will sizzle on the keyboard.
Rhonda Pollero, Leanne Banks, Traci Hall, Amy Fetzer
(I'm kind of disappointed. The authors did NOT discuss how to write hot sex scenes. Oh well...)
-Perfect Protagonists & Vile Villains
The eternal conflict between good and evil.
Jonathon King, Caroline Todd, Terry Griffin, Britin Haller, Heather Graham
-Gummed To Death
Creating smooth-talking dialogue.
Karen Kendall, Deborah Shlian, Steven M. Forman, Michael Haskins, Phyllis Smallman
-The Short Story
The discipline of brevity: claustrophobic or mind-expanding?
Peter Robinson, Elaine Viets, Diane Stuckart, Don Bruns, Oline Cogdill
(I attended this one solely for Elaine Viets. I'm a BIG fan of her Dead End Jobs mystery series. See the picture below. Elaine is on the far left.)
I did have an interesting encounter with one of the organizers of Sleuthfest today. She came up and asked my name. She said the woman she was looking for was pregnant and since there weren't that many pregnant women in attendance, I might be the woman she needed to find. Sigh. I didn't have the heart to tell her I'm not pregnant. I've got to do something about this belly of mine.
