Scarlett

*claps hand on forehead* How could I forget this?!! D101! How could you wait another minute A hug is warmer when you're in it Oh Baby that's a fact Sending you a copy of the *virtual backrub* I sent to aikim! Checking in after a great day with DD and DS. I finally got to watch some movies I've been putting off -- "Dark Knight" and "Mamma Mia" -- and thoroughly enjoyed both! I was initially doubtful about Mamma Mia "the Movie" because I'd watched 3 excellent performances of the show: here in Houston from front row center, then in a beautiful venue (Royal Alexanda?) in Toronto and then I took the ehP to see it after the JNT06 NY/NJ 3-fer. The movie was wonderful in that it tightened up the weak scenes from the musical, moving "Thank You for the Music" to the credits , skipping "Knowing Me, KNowing You", and then capitalizing on what movies do best -- dream sequences, zooming between crowd scenes and the main characters, the silhouettes and shadows, etc. Watching Colin Firth as Harry Headbanger was alone worth the price of admission. Never thought I'd ever live to hear Colin sing "Our Last Summer" and he delivered his final line just perfectly! Meryl Streep was her sublime self especially in "The Winner Takes It All". Pierce Brosnan was looked great as always especially in the end, but I didn't care much for his singing. All in all it was a fun movie! And Dark Knight was worthy of breaking all those records. I love hanging with the "kids", especially the part where I have to insist before DD buys anything -- she's just not the shopping type. DS does go for some brand items, but doesn't buy much either, jsut a shirt and a pair of cargo shorts today. I came home with more stuff than anyone. Oh, and they helped me pick this in the Build-a-Bear Workshop after we found out that they actually made T-rex'es. Here's a picture of the outfit they chose: (yes, my kids are nice people but their minds are as warped as mine). Didn't have to imagine the look in the other customers' faces as I was roaming the store carrying these...

I went and looked for the part that justclay12 and laljeterfan mentioned in The Way, and I agree -- it does curl my toes! Here are the lyrics (at least I hope this is the one you meant since there is another 'baby' in The Way): I can't put my fingers on Just what it is that makes me love you, You baby. And here's the baby from RHT: Oh, can't you see it baby You've got me goin' crazy And while looking for that, I found these other goodies... From the JBT, GBOF: Kiss me baby, woo feels good Hold me baby, Iseeme, Yes IT work hours are weird. Thx! At least with your current work you're following the sun (or I assume that 'day lilies' do) I think I resemble that remark! However, MiniScarlett is in town for the weekend before heading back to school, so I will just promise to do my best. Thanks for your beautimous work, luckiest1 & goldarngirl!!! (I was going to suggest Minnesota as a bonus or Erie OHN with the Bach part, but I just realized that I haven't rendered those in HD either) You speed-reading? First line: Another blooper on the ET page was that they showed a picture that came from Clay's Kenya blog but referred to it as Somalia. It looks like Permaswooned's pages on the Unicef thread are so beautiful that it's too intimidating to add another one. Since things seem to have paused (and I apologize for not keeping an eye on that since I was in SF), so could we just publish the 3 beautiful pages from Permaswooned? (Couchie or Luckiest1, pretty please? I think you posted that this could be done right here. ) Thanks for the gorgeous pics and wonderful memories of WPB, keepingfaith! Nice picture too, Gibby! Thanks.

I'm bored. Anyone care to share their favorite Clay songs with the word "baby" in it? (ie. where he says "baby" in way that seems extra special) One of my favorites is JY, Darien Lake: Night after night I dream you're in my arms Because your love can heal the scars of a empty soul Reach for me, baby we'll touch the sky

Permaswooned and texwriter, HBD! :00000430: :fest30: Sorry for the late greeting but today was a doozie for me -- at 2:30 am I finally left the office from the previous day's work, went home, slept a bit, had a 7:30 am conference call, and 2 presentations to finish while working around a noontime doctor's appt, then a meeting with the bosses and finally -- met a girlfriend of mine for dinner at ta-da, Benihana! Funny how a simple supper out can be so much more fun because of something the cute guy did. No I didn't have edamame, and nowadays when I think of messing up with chopsticks I think of Solo instead of Clay. Honestly, when I count how many items she dropped with her chopsticks during our dinner at SF's Chinatown last week compared to Clay on the Benihana video (2-0, tho' she claims that Clay had the video editor remove his bloopers) I can't tell who's been using chopsticks for years. merrieeee, yes it is a v. risky thing which is why although nothing's confirmed I wanted to send my IIT good thoughts and wishes in case any were needed. My only other input on IIT/IIU is that I truly admire Canada's data privacy laws and it's high time we passed the equivalent over here!!! ETA:

Well I hope I don't make people uncomfortable with saying, IIT I'm sending lots of happy thoughts and good wishes to the parents and especially to the little one -- welcome to our world! It's a scary time because it's high risk, and I think if I were in that situation it would be good to know today that people are keeping you in their thoughts. Don't Save It All for Christmas Day-cakes and all that. Hasn't he given us enough love through the years? Maybe it's time to put ourselves in someone else's shoes. We fantasize enough about being the one, so it's probably the time to do the "walk two moons" thing. ETA: {{{aikim}}} *sending you a virtual backrub*

*sneaking in a post under II-Oh!* Why am I being anal about a 2nd jacket? It's because I didn't really need one, much less a second one. See the pics -- I hardly even bothered to put on my "first" which was just a windbreaker. I went back upstairs because I thought you or PerusingOne would need something warm that night. *nothing more to see here*

I was wondering about this too. How big a deal is it to have, say an MBA? Is it worth the hassle and the fun stuff you'd miss, especially if someone tours next spring or fall? Do companies really value this over experience? Is it important to change jobs for something with more flexible hours? Yay for the 5-year plan, Ansa! Is this appropriate for this thread?

ETA: Oh yes, that was a naughty, naughty GPS! LOL! I dressed for San Francisco (50 - 55 degrees, maybe cooler over the water), with just a light sweater. Nothing else to peel off. But the car was a sauna! I think that whatever power the engine had was directed towards heating the interior instead of making it go. Made up for it the next day by taking 2 sets of clothes -- something equatorial for riding in the car and a different set for walking around in. Thank goodness for a trunk!!! ETAA: Oh, do we have a sample .mp3 from Rowdy?!! Bet everyone would like to listen and then suggest things for a "signature Clay Aiken" GPS unit to say! Hee!

If anyone is interested there is a zipped file that you can download, extract, burn to dvd and have a fully set up DVD. For those of you in the know, the question was posed as to whether this would work on a MAC or not (the folder will be a VIDEO_TS folder) once it is extracted. Does anyone know? Can't wait to get home and download this, goldarngirl & luckiest! Thank you!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss: Yes, I think my motto for the weekend was, "As long as we're here and it's only a misdemeanor in Texas"... BTW, one important think about the flight was that there was a Clay Aiken picture in the inflight magazine and OMWH was on the playlist -- if they had actually played music on the flight -- but they didn't and didn't show the inflight movie either. (And the breakfast buffet was the following day. The 4:15 internal "alarm" was only for you and PerusingOne. I didn't get up until 9am that first morning... and so hadn't had anything to eat and was whining impatiently waiting eagerly (lol!) to get to the Culinary Institute. The jacket was a 2nd one, in case we ended up going over the water that evening -- which we did. ----------------------------------------------------------------- BTW my post about "no storms over here" at noon today will be the last time I will simply look out the window, see a patch of blue and write "nope, no storms here. i'm a-ok". The blue part was rather large so I believed it; unfortunately, the storms were right behind the building and no sooner had I hit submit than everything came pouring down!!!

FromClaygary, She's spending time with her family but she was at the Orlando show last year. I miss her so! St. Bernard pass goes from Switzerland to Italy; I used it to go from Martigny to Aosta. The easy way would have been to use the St. Bernard Tunnel, but of course I prefer the hard way the more adventurous route. St Vallier is in a v. pretty region (w/ very nice people. one person spent 20 minutes helping me get through a nest of one-way streets) but it's further southwest. Did you go to Grasse and mix up your own perfume? My favorite kind from the area is by Fragonard. If you had crossed the Alps between France and Switzerland, your equivalent would have been the Mont Blanc Tunnel. BTW, the "rescued by a St. Bernard dog" stories started there (St. Bernard Pass) because they were bred in the area. I loved the Wolftrap show. Watched it with ImAllEars and we helped each other on Clack-taking. The only thing I didn't like was getting to the post-party 15 minutes late and finding out that the food had already run out. Thank goodness Solo was there to take me to the nearest fastfood place. ETA: So far, no storms here. But then again, Rita was expected to hit South Texas too.

{{{Gibby}}}} Beautiful places where I've seen Clay: Canandaigua (Finger Lakes), Eugene(Willamette Valley), Vancouver, San Diego, Kansas City Favorite places for Clay Concerts: Toledo Zoo, Clio, Houston, NYC, Clearwater Favorite places in the world: (close to water) Manarola, Italy Haifa, Israel Out-of-the-way beaches in the Philippines (mountain passes) St. Bernard Khyber Badaling

Thanks! I thought I knew all of the "formal events" but I guess I missed saving pictures from that one. Yes, he looks v. handsome! Especially with the huge smile on the first pic!

Iseeme, wait, where did your pictures come from? Especially the ones on page 1! (I meant to ask but I waited for page 2 to give others a chance to be in front) *waves at Kareneh below!!!*

ETAA: Awwwwww, annabear! MUAH! And thanks bunches, Permaswooned, ldyjocelyn and Iseeme!!! G'nite, Cotton!

Awwwwwww! Never have "character and integrity and talent" been so thuddaliciously hawt!!! ETA: Thanks for the "release", ldyjocelyn!!!

Would it get me a pretty picture or two from your treasure trove of gorgeousness??? Oh and thanks for the reminder, merrieeee. Me too!!! ETA: *my post for the next thread has been on my clipboard and is ready to paste. how about yours?*

But you do such wonderful cellcerts!!! How about saving some commentary on an audio file so that we can travel along with you?!!! (Hope you're just as excited about authors' homes as a concert, though! Hee!)

annabear, the only thing that could have made this trip better was if you had been there. :F_05BL17blowkiss: Can't wait to meet up with you sometime soon (preferably at a Clay Aiken concert of course!) *fans Cotton* Rest a little. Here, have a nice drink.

Wow, y'all are having discussions. Anyone else aimlessly waiting for the next thread like me? Before spending the Summer of '05 following the JBT with me, Tasapio spent a few days in York, Maine and these are her gorgeous-as-always pictures. Honey, I'm home! Flight was delayed but it gave me an extra hour to sleep. All is well! ETA: Yes, aren't they beautiful, FromClaygary? I miss her so much.

Just wanted to say goodnight and thank everyone for taking this "virtual" trip with us. Couchie, it's been great to hang with you again! Lurker friend, MUAH! Solo is already at the airport. KAndre and I will be leaving shortly and PerusingOne will be closing the room in the morning! Bye-be to the Bay Area... Talk to you all again from Houston!!! (with more pics and stuff) And btw...

Hi again, eHP checking in from our hotel room -- Couchie we picked up even more fruit in Chinatown. Remember how I was searching for Ranier cherries? We found some in Chinatown and some lychees in season (well, in season in July in Southeast Asia). Come and help us work through these 12 lbs of fruit by tomorrow night! Yes, we've been covering a lot of ground. We didn't have time to do North Beach so after having dinner in Chinatown we just headed to the Palace of Fine Arts (v. pretty location, pics will be up soon). I know you need the rain but I hope we don't see much of it tomorrow, our last day here. Aww, we had dinner in Chinatown today so no dimsum planned. I did pick up a barbeque pork bun at one of the stalls so that'll have to be my token dimsum. Thanks for the tip and we'll remember for next time -- I think we'll be back, especially if Clay's singing. Such a cute picture!!! *waves to artquest* Hi! I see you on the list below. My copy of your Mandarin book arrived and I even took it with me on the flight but haven't opened it since. When can we start?

Just saying hi while resting our feet in Chinatown. It was great to meet up with Couchie and lurker friend! Hi to my sweet babbooo!

Hi from somewhere in the Santa Cruz mountains! Had lunch with YSRN and then went to the Boardwalk to ride the Big Dipper, bumper cars, etc. ETA: Thanks, Gibby, and hugs to you too!!! Thanks for posting the beautiful pictures of the hummingbird and the spectacular sunset!!!

The weather's been wonderful!!! (some people think it's a tad too cold, though) The dessert table was beautiful! Also beautiful in a different way were the fresh fruits in the farm market -- I got 3 baskets of blackberries and was about to pick a box of the juiciest plums I've ever tasted so I got a bag of those instead. I hope they don't do anything terrible to the bear... Maybe it's because I'm on vacation with lots of sunshine and water (the ocean's my Tara) but my current motto is "if people are upset that means they still care". ldyj, we'll take good care of couchie!!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

What are you talking about? We've been up since 4:15. You know that whenever there's something interesting going on anywhere in the fandom we're on it, vacation or no vacation?!! Miss ya!!! *crossing fingers for a hummingbird picture sometime* Couchie, Solo says that the wet spot she created can be washed off and there was no bed or sleeping arrangements involved in any way.