Maggie, Bailey. Bailey, Maggie.

Maggie and Bailey
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas

We are dogsitting Nicholas's coworker's dog Bailey this week. It is actually the first time we've ever dogsitted, which is kind of amazing considering we've been pawning our pup off on people for over 4 years. It has been a pretty easy transition so far. Although, Bailey REALLY likes the couch, which is usually Maggie's territory. She seems to be handling it relatively well and by that I mean she hasn't bitten his ear off yet. ;)

Cherry Blossoms

We had a great time at the festival this year. It was super crowded but super worth it!

Somebody has been drugging my latte

Ok, so there have been a couple of recent developments in my life that I need to confess. They are a little disturbing because they involve me bringing things into my life that I have formerly passionately disliked.

First, I bought a pair of shorts. God save me I did. And y'all I hate shorts...a lot. I always felt that Trinny and Susannah were right on the money when they said the problem with shorts was when you stood up your shorts were still sitting down. I've owned one pair of hand-me-down shorts from my friend Annie that I wear usually once a year when I go to an amusement park. The rest of the time I wear skirts or pants - no capris, petal pushers, no cropped pant of any type. However, Thursday night, we all stopped at Target on our way back to Paducah. Maybe it was the jet lag or time change, but my defenses fell and I got a really cute pair of dark brown shorts, very similar to these. And I really like them! I mean they are not the most flattering piece of clothing I own but for shorts they ain't so bad.

Ok, if the shorts weren't bad enough, I have even bigger announcement. I think I might like Spencer Pratt. Ok, maybe like is strong. I don't want to throw up when I see pictures or video of him anymore. That's definitely progress considering my previous posts about him. I don't know what it was. Maybe it was his downturn of fortune on The Hills or she-Pratt, his attention whore sister, that makes him look like an angel. But I know what sealed the deal and it is his new Radar advice column. This post in particular:

YO SPENCER! How do you deal with weak people and haters?
With weak people, you can only try to give them confidence and pump them up. To be honest, you don't need them around you. I try to put myself around really strong people. Haters you should love. Hatred stems from jealousy at some point. If people aren't hating on you, they don't care, and if they don't care, that means you're not doing anything right. I love my haters. I don't hate them back at all. You can turn so many haters around once they meet you. I'm like, "Thanks, I get it, I'm an idiot," and they're like, "Woo! He's an idiot! He's so cool!" I flipped a couple haters at Benihana just last night.

Seriously, that last line slayed me and I thought, "It's official. I might not totally hate Spencer Pratt." I even said it out loud to Nicholas. Luckily, I wasn't wearing the shorts at the time or his head might have exploded.

Easter 2008

Easter 2008
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas

My awesome mom and stepdad flew me and Nicholas home for Easter over the weekend. They picked us up in Nashville Thursday night and we arrived in Paducah after dinner and a trip to Target in Clarksville.

On Friday, I went to my alma mater Heath High School to talk to two classes about my job in the Senate and life in the big city. The kids were pretty responsive. Lots of questions about Hillary and both classes wanted to know if I had any pets, which I thought was pretty funny. After school was out, me and my mom drove up to my grandmother's new lake house to join her and Nicholas. Nicholas was already on the lake fishing when we got there and I am happy to report he caught a smallmouth bass.

We hung out at the house the next morning before coming back to town. We did some shopping during the day and Nicholas made everyone dinner that night. Easter Sunday went off without a hitch (as compared to the dogfight and fire at Christmas) and before we knew it we were waking up early on Monday morning to fly back. :(

A Disorder Peculiar to the Country

This book is described repeatedly in reviews as "a comedy of errors." I think someone switched my book jacket because wow ...
divorce + 9/11 does not so much equal comedy to me.

Joyce and Marshall are getting divorced but are forced to remain with their two children under the same roof of a small apartment in Brooklyn. Needless to say, things aren't going well. On 9/11, Joyce believes Marshall has died in the World Trade Center where he works. Marshall thinks Joyce has died on Flight 93. Both are ecstatic. Only one problem, Marshall was late for work and Joyce's trip was canceled at the last minute.

See how the hilarity ensues? No? Me neither. However, I did think it was a brilliant examination of human relationships and how similar individual conflict is to seemingly mysterious global conflict. On a certain level, I identified with Joyce and Marshall and the way anger and resentment can carry you to a place you no longer recognize. I think every marriage has those moments - when you look at the person and you don't see them, you only see every single thing that has pissed you off since the beginning of time.

Kalfus does a great job of pivoting that moment and putting it in the context of our post-9/11 world, describing Joyce and Marshall's marriage as lost to a hatred that has "acquired the intensity of something historic, tribal and ethnic, and when they watched news on TV, reports from the Balkans or the West Bank, they would think, yes, yes, yes, that's how I feel about you."

Reading this book, it felt so true to our country right now. A tragic fissure that led to consequence after angry consequence. Now, five years later, everyone is left wondering, "how exactly did we get here?"

Kalfus also did an excellent job of conveying New York after 9/11 and the intensity of the experience on the city and all that lived there. He described emotions and reactions that I had never heard about or understood. They were both good and bad, both noble and contemptible and I think that's the real power of his narrative. To say the history of 9/11 has been whitewashed is an understatement and I find myself being drawn to more realistic portrayals. It seems truer somehow - more healing - because you can't heal from something you never really acknowledged.

Before and After

Before: Unfortunately, these pictures make the bathroom seem it better shape then it was, especially since I didn't take close-up shots of the shower tile and the floor - both of which were very out of shape and very ugly.





















After: We painted the bathroom a dark tan to make the granite counter top pop. We also hung new stainless steel towel rack and toilet paper holder to match the faucet. I also took my Aunt Lana's advice to move all my tourist frames to one wall and I really love it.

A couple of things

I just thought I'd share a couple of exciting things that happened to me today. I've been doing ancestry research for a while and I found out tonight that my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Elias Lovelace, who founded Lovelaceville, Kentucky, was a Revolutionary War veteran. How cool is that? I even found the pension record from his service and a witness he swore to prove another soldier's service.

Oh and I shared an elevator with Ted Kennedy. He asked me how I was doing. It was awesome.

So, yeah, sort of unrelated but both pretty cool. ;)

In other news...

I hope y'all are sitting down...cause this is a very big deal...

.. you ready ...

NICHOLAS CAUGHT HIS FIRST FISH!!!

AND HIS SECOND!!!

IN ONE DAY!!!

To say he's excited is a vast understatement.

Flip This Bathroom: DAY SIX

TAAAAAAA DAAAAAAA!!!! They finished today and we couldn't be happier. We are definitely going to have to paint and I promise to post pictures after it's all put together. I have to say as our first major home improvement project it went pretty flawlessly. A few minor setbacks and a little over budget but nothing too major. We even got to return some tile and get some money back!