The Postmaster has my number...

I'm doomed.

My highly trafficked blog has gotten me in trouble.  Remember how I proclaimed that my latest fight with the Priority Mail tape dispenser would be be my undoing?  I wrote on this little blog that I loathed the United States Postal Service.  I even quipped that this proclamation might put me on a federal watch list.  I thought I was so funny and witty.

I'm afraid my mouth has gotten me in trouble.

I have documented my face with this iPhone photo after getting my mail today.

This is what I received-

That's the fabulous September issue of Instyle magazine, which is like the thickness of the King James Bible.  So why is my girl Beyonce in an envelope?  According to the envelope this is why-

Dear Valued Postal Customer:

I want to extend my sincere apology as your Postmaster for the enclosed document that was inadvertently damaged in handling by your Postal Service.

We are aware how important your mail is to you.  With that in mind, we are forwarding it to you in an expeditious fashion.  yada yada yada

YOUR POSTMASTER

This means the USPS knows of my disdain for their tape dispensers and decided to retaliate by ripping Mrs. Jay Z off the cover of over 100 glossy pages of goodness.  Oh, and I don't speak postal.  Does that mean I'm getting another one, or are they forwarding me a torn piece of paper in an expeditious fashion?   Fashion is what I need, Mr. Postmaster, and you have robbed me of that.  

Even Kashmir was concerned.  

35 and Fabulous

This precious baby

grew into this darling boy

 who enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror.

 We got home from the engagement fun last night after midnight, and it was officially Trinity's 35th birthday.  He immediately tried on his fancy new Lululemon jacket from Chip, Katie, Caroline, Rob and Meghan.  He was actually looking in the mirror here.

We hiked around Eagle Creek, ate at Yats and had some ice cream cake.  

Happy birthday, babe!

Robeghan is Engaged!!!!

Last night around 5 p.m. we all received this grainy iPhone photo depicting giddy happiness.  Robby asked Meghan to be his wife!

 This close up of the gorgeous ring was the second photo sent!

 Here it is in my lap right after I picked it up at the jewelry store.  I love a good surprise, but I mostly love to be the recipient of a surprise!  When that is not possible, I love to be a surprise participant!  I happily agreed to be part of Robby's plan to shock Miss Meghan.  I used his key to get into his house and hide it in his desk.  I drove straight to the house from the store.  By straight I mean after I layered it with my own rings and drove around the block several times, P. Diddy style.  

This ring was our Nanny's, so it has lots of sentimental value.

We met up with pals that evening to celebrate at Bar 10 01, a new spot in Broad Ripple.

Kirby, with Jodi, Allison, Steven and Jamie in the background

The newly engaged lovebirds, in their first official picture.  

 All of the ladies posed with the new bride to be-

Meg, Allison, Jodi, me and Jamie.

Kirby and Amanda had already departed the soiree.

Allison and I always have a Hobo clutch with us when we go out.  I intertwined our wristlets in a love pose, while shouting, "Hobo Camp" repeatedly, Jerri Blank style.  If you don't know that Jerri Blank reference, google Jerri Blank/Strangers with Candy/Amy Sedaris.  Best show ever.

 I love Tim.  He's got that bar lean down, people.  

We had a great night with friends, my brother and my future sister in law!

First Week of School

School started on Monday.  I am coaching 5th grade teachers this year, and I'm loving the fifth graders.  What a fabulous age!  At the conclusion of this year, I will have coached/worked extensively with classrooms in all grades K-5.  I seem to always fall in love with whatever grade is my focus.  So far the 5th graders have been kind to me.  

I had to do something in return.

Cue the clown pants-

Let the record state that I recognize these pants are a lot to take.  I got them my first year of teaching at a little boutique in North Carolina back in 2001.  We have had a love/hate relationship.

By that I mean the adults hate them.  The children love them.  Adults say ambiguous comments like, "Only you could wear those, Betsy."  Translation:  "You got kahunas to wear those in public, you clueless fool."  

I do it for the children, people.  They were my Friday jazz pants.  My mother said I looked like the Mayor of Whoville.  

At the end of the week I felt quite exhausted.  Our Saturday looked like this-

 Husband loves to pose with his kitty child.  The three of us have become Bravo TV junkies.  We watched Eligible Dallas, Flipping Out, and other such nonsense.  

 We also broke into these.  I have now been dropping about $12 biweekly on sorbet at Target.  Those Ciao Bella and Tallenti brands are my new best friends.  Mango, raspberry and blood orange are my trio of addiction.  The colorful tubs satisfy my color love too.  

 Saturday evening included a trip to H2O Sushi, our often mentioned go to spot for raw fish rolls.  Trinity was looking a bit more put together than his earlier kitty-cuddling, Bravo surfing attire.

 This is out of focus, but displays the delicious Riesling I ordered and my lack of wedding/engagement rings.  It was the first time since the engagement that I have gone out in public without a ring, if I recall.  I felt like such a free woman.  Sassy!

 We saw this pickle plate on the menu, which now puts our favorite sushi spot on the list of Courtney-friendly restaurants.  Girl hates herself some fish.  She eats so much chicken and pickles that she could either  bock or ferment.  

 Cookie heaven.  I make little happy puppy eating noises when I have these.  You know the sound, it's a nice little hum that puppies make when eating, not that I make while eating puppies.

Speaking of Court, we met Steve and Allison for drinks at Usual Suspects and looky who they brought?

 The original Sweet T/T.Lo

We canoodled and chatted and I was reminded so much of my dear Courtney.

Lest you forgot that they are the same person.

Late Birthday and Petfinder

Allison sent me an email today and we talked this evening.  She and her husband are considering adopting a Whoodle that they located on Petfinder.  What's a Whoodle?  It's a Wheaten Terrier/Poodle mix, duh!  She got me thinking of one of my former habits, pre blog stalking.  I often entertained myself on Petfinder by locating Himalayan cats to be Kashmir's new BFF.

You know, my precious angel sent straight from Jesus-

this was taken the other night right before we said our prayers.  

Allison inspired me and I started "shopping" for a new Himmy.

Enter Otis

Otis lives in Illinois and he shan't be ours, but he gave me a good laugh.  

I have never seen a cat with such toofs.  

I think Petfinder should fully disclose that Otis is actually a Himalayan-Shih Tzu mix.

That's right.  

I believe his extreme underbite is a result of inner-species breeding.

I say he is the first Himmy-Shit.  

I want a job as a hybrid animal namer.

I'll have to quit my current gig at Crayola where I name new colors of crayons such monikers as "Jamaican Sunset."  

Speaking of funky hybrids....

Remember Gingerbread?

She's a Labradoodle.

She's in this photo, I swear, wedged somewhere amidst my curls and Camille's.

 BFF Marinda claims she never makes the blog.  

That is clearly false.

There she is.

Oh, but I am just being silly.  The lovely Marinda and Karen  took me to The Jazz Kitchen in Broadripple for a very late birthday dinner on Friday.  It was wonderful!

Karen wanted to take her swank Lexus convertible, which made us appear way hot.  It's a beautiful cherry red.  We fooled some young whippersnappers into honking and hooting at us.  I yelled back in reply, "The average age of this car's occupants is 45!"

 We wedged Marinda into the backseat using a homemade concoction of Crisco and MorroccanOil.  

The seat is smaller than the little dinky one the stewardesses pull down to sit in for take off.

I'm sorry, I misspoke.

Flight attendants.

She also had to wear a hat to protect her eyesight and hair.

It must be noted that Karen is a slightly aggressive driver.

As she whipped around a corner and nearly sideswiped another car, I quipped, "Hey Cruela Devil, the puppies are no good to you dead."

Love you girls!

Touring

I met the Menopause Posse on Wednesday morning for a tour of Columbus.  Did you know that Columbus, Indiana is right up there with New York City, Boston and Chicago architecturally?  Well it is.  Now you know.  We went on the city architecture tour, which was so cool.  Even the elementary schools are designed by well known architects.

This is a view of a church as our guide walks beside the library, designed by I.M. Pei.

 Here is another church view.

 The hospital is prairie style.

 This church was awesome.  It looked like a spaceship.

 Speaking of spaceships, my blouse took flight as this photo was taken.  That's me, Judith, Kathy, Mom and Marsha.  They've been friends since high school, Wiley class of '67.  They travel together every summer and use phrases that they used as teenagers.  Their favorite?  My mother referred to our guide as a "hot piece."  Apparently that was hip in the 60s.  What a hoot.  I would also like to note that our guide was at least 70.  

 We had ice cream at the local soda shop.  

We also toured The Miller House, a recent acquisition of The Indianapolis Museum of Art.  They don't allow photos, but it was spectacular.  It was built in the late 50s, a wonderful example of mid century design, and had all the original furnishings.  Check out this link and go-

Miller House

We met some friends at the Ball and Biscuit, and T wore his new Seattle shirt, purchased at the bottom of The Space Needle.

 Robeghan, pictured mostly so you could see the eclectic crew behind them.  That man in the background is attempting to bring back the top hat.

 In typical Allison-Betsy banter, A asks, "Do my lashes look longer and fuller?"  She's been using Latisse, that lash thickening product peddled by Brooke Shields.  

 Yes, they look full and long.

We did a photo comparison, and I'm even willing to show my fivehead to display my lashes.  I don't Latisse, but mine are in decent shape.

That nose.  You know you're jealous.

Seattle Mega Post

This is a long one.  I had oodles of photos from our trip to Seattle.  I flew out Wednesday and returned Sunday morning after we took the red eye departing at 11:20 p.m. Saturday night.  I thought the red eye would be glamorous, like I had just wrapped shooting my movie out in LA and had to be back in NY for a promo appearance in the morning.

Then I remembered I'm not a star.

The red eye is not glamorous or fun, especially if you have a propensity to drool while sleeping.  

I was ecstatic upon arrival on Wednesday evening when T picked me up.  He was already there after driving down from working in Vancouver on Monday and Tuesday.

 The weather was beautiful as we drove in-

 and settled into our fabulous corner room at the Pan Pacific Hotel, with two walls of windows.

 The sun drenched bathroom where I took many baths with a view of the Space Needle.  Yes, I take baths in hotels.  Don't judge.  So far after years of travel, I have had no ill side effects from this practice.

 The large magnetic field surrounding the Happiest Place on Earth drew me in on the way to dinner on the first night.  T did his best to try to capture me in front of the signs noting historical awesomeness since 1901.

 Our first night's dinner was at Wild Ginger.  It was a pan asian style place and was where I began my tour de Seattle scallops/seafood.  I had salt and pepper scallops with rice and Riesling. Not that you particularly care, but I do. The lovely olive green silk shirt I donned photographed poorly.  Upon reviewing this picture all I could think was "Hammer, don't hurt 'em."  

 What?  You want more pictures of me in front of stores?  Here you go.

 The view of the Space Needle from our room.  I heard the theme song from Frasier all week.

 While Trinity worked on Thursday, I went down to the public market by myself.  

 Fish were flung, 

 and I had a chai tea from the original Starbucks.  I went to one about a block away in the market and stood in line there.  I intuitively felt it was not "the original."  I was correct.  I'm not proud of this 6th sense.  I ventured down and then found "the original."  I felt like Parker Posey in Best in Show, when she talks about meeting her husband at the Starbucks, but not the same one, and how lucky she is to have been raised in the era of J.Crew catalogs.  Brilliant.

 I went to the Seattle Art Museum, and was thrilled that it was Free Thursday, the first of the month.  I only spent about an hour there, so $15 would have been a bust otherwise.

 There was an exhibit about the Quilete tribe, made famous from those God awful, sucky Twilight books.   I have long said that those are the most horribly written pieces of "literature" I have ever read. I sent a picture to my Twinerd fans, Allison and sister Katie. 

This piece was more my style.  15th century Italian religious beauty.

 There was a porcelain room.  I need one of those for my new wedding china, still in the box until we get a bigger house!

 T was ready for a little outdoorsiness.  We had lunch,  crab salad for me, and then visited Snowqualmie Falls.

 Trinity's required picture as proof we were there.

 We then had a side trip to visit the grave of Jimi Hendrix.  Yet another typical random site that I have visited with him.  I swear he would drive an hour out of the way to see a giant rubber band ball.

 Then it was turn for my pick.  We went to The Bravern, a very swanky outdoor mall in hoity toity Bellevue.  We started our shopping with a Trophy cupcake.

 I feared we might have a Pretty Woman moment, since the place was ultra swanky.  As we headed into a store I spied this-

 I was intimidated no more.  How snooty are you if you can't spell?  It is spelled "completely" you rich fools.  Errors like this make me absolutely crazy.  They're everywhere.  Or maybe I should write "their everywhere" like so many people do.  Geesh!

 I found a darling dress on sale!

 I ate more scallops that night at Matt's in the Market, a restaurant that I found on the NY Times 36 hours in Seattle feature.  That is such a great resource for travel.

 More window shopping

 Dancing after a lovely cocktail or two.

 The next day we ferried over to Bainbridge Island for more seafood    and leisurely exploration.

 It was windy and 60 degrees, which was a wonderful change from 100 degrees in Indiana.

 Napping with my two favorite purchases of the trip, my dress and a chocolate macaron.

 This was my first macaron, purchased in a lovely little chocolate shop run by a French woman with a glorious accent and a very tiny waist.  She must have gotten that by eating lots of her chocolate.  I quickly followed suit.

 We wrapped up the trip by finally visiting the Space Needle and going on the Underground Tour of Seattle.

I adored this gorgeous city.  I had to miss my 10 year DG pledge class reunion at IU to go, so I was thrilled that I loved it so much!