Reason #49850980 that I don't eat meat

"Factory farming takes a big, hidden toll on human health and the environment, is undermining rural America's economic stability and fails to provide the humane treatment of livestock increasingly demanded by American consumers, concludes an independent, 2 1/2 -year analysis that calls for major changes in the way corporate agriculture produces meat, milk and eggs."

Read the full article here.

Two Makeovers for the Price of One

After out big bathroom redo, we still had the old moldy blinds in the window.  I'd wanted to change it for awhile and finally found the privacy screen I wanted. I installed it last weekend and I think the result is fantastic. Not only do we have privacy, we have a ton of natural light. Plus, we don't have to struggle with the screen when we need to raise the window for ventilation. 

Before:                         

After:

This weekend while in Louisville, my good friend Erin asked me to redecorate one of her guest rooms as a (very) belated wedding present. So, Elizabeth, Catherine, and I went in on a little room makeover and I think the end was result was pretty good. It certainly made Erin happy which is all that matters. 

Before:    

After: (Ignore me acting as a nail)

Living With Less

So, we're back from a bit of a hiatus, boys and girls. I know you missed us!

Last week Nicholas and I took Oprah's Live With Less Challenge.  Two weeks ago she did a show on waste and spotlighted two families for intervention. For a week, they were asked to:

• live without TV/laptops/iPods
• take 5 minute showers
• use no paper products
  
• not shop or eat out

The show was really powerful and at the end Oprah challenged everyone to try it themselves. Well you know Oprah says jump and I say how high? So, I let Nicholas know the rules. Oprah allowed 1 hour a night of TV and I changed it to laptop or TV because I thought I would want to blog about our progress.

However, as the week progressed, I really got into the challenge and I didn't use of the hour until Thursday. I mean sometimes you just need some Jon and Kate Plus 8 in your life and that's that. The rest of the week though I really enjoyed the challenge. I felt like Nicholas and I spent more times actually interacting rather than just sitting in the same room together. I know Maggie benefited because we took her for several long walks at night. The only thing I was surprised by was how often we forgot to turn light out. I felt like I spent a lot of time walking around turning lights out - now I know why my parents got so frustrated all those times! 

Nicholas had a tough time with the only 30 minutes (we split the hour between us) of laptop time. He used all 30 minutes on Monday and Tuesday and went way over on Wednesday and Thursday. I think part of the problem was once he cracked the computer to put in receipts it was hard to close it. This was part of the reason I didn't blog because I was afraid once I opened it up and got on the internet to update it would be difficult to let it go. 

For those of you who watch Wife Swap, this is the part when I say what's changed and what's stayed the same after the challenge. I'm going to keep timing my showers because otherwise it's too easy for the time to get away from you. We'd already talked about stop buying power towels so this was just an easy way to start. I'd also like to do one TV/laptop free night a week. Overall, I'm coming away with a better of understanding how of we can check out and be pretty wasteful and how good it feels to turn that behavior around.

As usual, Oprah enhances our lives. ;)

The Kite Runner

I read this book because of peer pressure. I felt like I constantly saw people reading it on the metro and several of my friends had read it and liked it. I caved to the pressure and decided to read it myself. As we say in the South, that'll learn me.

Don't get me wrong. This book is not terrible but it's not necessarily good either. One the most basic level, it is moderately interesting story. Unfortunately, I do not think the author was terrible talented and any appealing aspects of the narrative were lost among his merely average writing skills.

My main problem was that he told the story chronologically, which really prevented the true drama and emotion of the main character's struggle from coming through. Instead of introducing us slowly to this conflict and the effect on his life, he just marches us through the story piece by piece. There was no drama or complexity. There was a secret revealed at the end of the story but it felt very unnecessary and a little forced.

So, semi-interesting story stripped of all appeal by the storytelling itself.

Our Magical Wedding Weekend

The Happy Couple
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas

We spent the weekend in New York City celebrating the marriage of our wonderful friends Laura and Dan (now Sinrod). We arrived Saturday afternoon and met Nicholas's high school friend Joseph and his girlfriend Annie for pizza at the famous Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge. I'd never been to Brooklyn so I thought popping over the bridge for

one of the city's best pies sounded fun. We tried the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and walked back across the Bridge to our hotel.

That night Dan's parents hosted a party for the out of town guests at City Hall Restaurant. We started the night with cocktails in their Granite Room, which apparently used to be a Prohibition Era speakeasy. Then we had an amazing dinner upstairs where I got to try matzo ball soup for the first time. While the food was wonderful, the best part of the evening were the heartfelt toasts from the wedding party. I even added my own when they opened up the floor, toasting Laura the only person I know who might love Oprah more than me and Dan the only man who might be more tolerant of his Oprah loving spouse than Nicholas. ;)

On Sunday, we met my friend Dave and his sister for lunch and walked around the city a bit. The wedding started at 5 so we went back to the hotel pretty early to get ready. Both the ceremony and the reception were held at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, which is really the most gorgeous, magical space. The entire place was decorated with huge arrangements of cherry blossom branches and candlelight. The effect was completely enchanting.

Needless to say, the mood was set for Laura's entry and she did not disappoint. Her dress was nothing short of a work of art but Laura WORE that dress and not the other way around. She was magnificent. It was the first Jewish wedding I've ever been to a

nd I was really touched by all the symbolism but also the personal touches Dan and Laura added. I was also completely stoked for the breaking of the glass, even if it took Dan a couple tries. ;)

After the ceremony we moved up to the balcony for the cocktail hour, where I had my first ever grilled cheese with truffles. I proceeded the stalk the waiter with said grilled cheese the rest of the evening. We had dinner and dancing downstairs and there was some hard freaking partying for a Sunday night I'll tell you that. This was due in large part to the great live band. I've always been a bit skeptical of live bands but they rocked it and kept the party going late into the night.

So, yeah in a nutshell, it was definitely one of the most amazing weddings I have ever been to and we will be forever grateful that Laura and Dan included us in the festivities.

True that

WTF!?!?

This better be some sort of joke.


UPDATE: It seems the highly offensive synonyms for weaker have been removed.

FURTHER UPDATE

Unreasonable

I love my dog. I love her like she's my child. What I do not love is the amount she sheds? We finished up our spring cleaning this weekend, which basically means clearing the house of Maggie's hair. She had just gotten grooomed the day before but we decided to use our shedding blade to clear any last hair. We had no idea how much there would be. Honestly, we could have done it for another hour and still gotten hair off her.

Wife Swap

Sometimes people say things on Wife Swap that are so ridiculous, they are all but completely unbelievable. For example:

New Wife: "Your 10 year-old son eats dinner by himself!"
Dad: "I just want to be clear that he only cooks dinner and eats by himself Monday through Thursday."

OH! Well, ONLY Monday through Thursday! So glad we cleared that up.

Clear Eyes Full Hearts Can't Lose!

"Friday Night Lights was also granted a reprieve, though will not return until the winter."

Apparently, the show will begin Oct. 1 on DirecTV's Channel 101 and then next winter on NBC. I'm not exactly happy about maybe having to wait until next winter but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

All that matters is that Riggins, Saracen, and MOST importantly Tami Taylor aren't out of my life forever.

Now, who has DirecTV? ;)

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!

Flip This Bathroom: DAY FIVE

Sooooooo close...they didn't quite finish today. The shower tile was sealed and the floor finished. They also put up the bead board. Tomorrow they're going to seal the floor and paint the bead board. THEN we should be done.