A Poem for a Friday

If Thou Art Worn

If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows that thou would'st forget,
If thou would'st read a lesson that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills! -- No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears.

H. W. Longfellow

Weekend Getaway

A few holiday week/end highlights:

• Fabulous thanksgiving meals with each of our families, including all of our grandparents and my 18-month old niece! (Also, I made cranberry sauce for the first time and really enjoyed it - I added red grapes to the cranberries for a sweeter compote). My niece came up to me and gave me a hug, which made me melt, and also sat on my lap while I fed her pumpkin pie. Can't get enough of the little cutie.
• A weekend getaway to visit a great friend for her birthday, which included everything from cheesecake for breakfast to homemade pasta and meatballs, to a lazy afternoon with Doctor Who to a new gay bar at 2am. Fabulous time.
• Visits to two potential wedding venues, one of which is a decent option and the other of which is a great option that just may end up being our spot! It is SO exciting to be able to start visualizing it all -- can't wait to set our date so the fun DIY planning can begin!

The from-scratch meal that made me appreciate Italian food again

Whirlwind Week

The week of YAY! has come to an end, and I think I might be getting a cold in coming down from it all. Let's recap:

Barack Obama Wins 2012 Election (awesome)

Saw Bob Dylan Live in Concert (mediocre but still great)

Saw Dana Gould Live at Acme Comedy Club (hilarious), after a DELICIOUS dinner a Black Sheep pizza

...and got Engaged!

In short, it will be pretty hard for any other week to top this one. I'd probably have to give birth to my first child, see an amazing woman become the first female president and see Kermit Ruffins live, all in one week's time, just to top this week. hah.

Get out the Kleenex

I heard this song on the radio recently and was compelled by it. When I sought out the video, I found it extremely powerful. So get out your kleenex and be inspired by this video - then vote NO (if a marriage amendment is on your ballot this week) and vote for Obama to support marriage equality.

In honor of election week I have also included the video (note: there is no official video - just the album cover with the song playing) for an amazing new song from Brother Ali - Letter to my Countrymen. It even features Dr. Cornel West at the end. Brother Ali is a great lyricist and his messages are largely motivational. MN hip hop continues to impress me.

Live Comedy!

At last, the weekend is upon us - hooray! Work has been painfully slow these days and, with the prospect of job cuts in the next few months, staff morale is at an all-time low. Needless to say, every evening and weekend is more treasured than ever.

Tonight we are having our customary Friday dinner and movie with one of our closest friends. The movie will likely be Defending Your Life, written and directed by Albert Brooks. I've been in a real comedy mood lately - listening to endless amounts of Marc Maron podcasts (thanks to SB's backlog of podcasts I've been listening to old interviews with Jon Hamm, Aziz Ansari, Ira Glass, Louie CK and many more) and now I'm onto new comedy podcasts such as Dana Gould's.

We're actually seeing Dana Gould do stand-up at the Acme Comedy club in Minneapolis one week from today. I'm psyched, although I admit that the thought of seeing live stand-up kind of makes me nervous/anxious. Since Dana Gould comes prepared with material and doesn't have a particularly off-the-cuff style, I'm thinking we'll be safe from audience call-outs or participation of any kind. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, anyway. But yes, overall, very excited - it is such a different experience, the whole comedy club environment (and I've heard a lot of comics mention that Acme is a cool club). Should be fun. It is good to laugh, and laughing in a group can be even better.