#38: The man just oooooooooozes awwwwwness

[ldyjocelyn]

Any California people here affected by this? Perma? Liney?

Earthquake rocks Los Angeles

Please, everyone...stay safe!

cindilu, fantastic banner!

As for wine -- I like the drier stuff, but have fallen in love with Australian Shiraz wine. Actually, my favorite wines are ones that I can buy in the little individual serving bottles -- and yes, you can find good stuff with these, if you go to a good liquor store!

Oh man, the Gala. I'd love to go, but I've got a long planned 10th wedding anniversary trip for my husband and I to Disney World two weeks after it, so there's no way I can go. I'll be fine, though. Really. Truly.

*sniff*

KAndre, I love your tale of sad and woe and food and freezing...and I can't wait for more!

[PermaSwooned]

Wheeeeeee!!! Well that was fun....only not!!

Nothing like being surrounded by elderly patients with heart conditions when an earthquake hits!!!

This one was a "roller", which lasts a long time but isn't as violent. During the Northridge quake 14 years ago it felt like our hospital was being picked up and "shook".

We're OK here...just a little shook up!!

[aikim]

Glad to hear you are okay Perma; I was visiting relatives in California back in 1981 when a quake hit...really scary when you've never experienced one before!

Kim

[ldyjocelyn]

Thanks for checking in Perma!

[playbiller]

Where are our other Californians?

[cindilu2]

Glad to hear you're okay, Permaswooned! Hope the other Californian's check in too. They are saying no severe damage or injuries reported so far - hope it stays that way!

Speaking of California, the only wine I really like to drink is Sutter Home White Zinfandel. Mmm, it's like candy! I don't care for dry wine - I'm such a heathen. It tastes kinda like turpentine to me About the driest I can take is Piat D'or (French). Hmmm, now that I've typed this... is it 5:00 yet? What the heck, it's five o'clock somewhere right? Cheers!

[Cotton]

EEEEE !!!

I just saw Clay on my TeeVee!!!

I'm watching Food Network and they just promo'd Paula's new season!

He was making one of his trademark funny faces, reacting to something Paula said, maybe??!!

He looked CUTE!

Curtains done!

They're not hanging exactly as I'd like - but whatdya expect for $2 a yard!!!

I think I'll make a couple of tiebacks and that'll take care of it.

hmmm

Think I'll open my White Zin!

Might as well join the party!

ETA:

Sis just sent me this.

Redneck Tube Top

Look closely . . .

[cha cha trusty]

Checking in.... yesterday I totally wore myself (and my back) out cleaning.

I am having some Clay fans in on Saturday...

(if anyone is going to be in the DC vicinity and wants to come, PM me for details!)

As for WINE - I could use some right now!! I am favoring coffee and anything with caffeine right now!!

More about WINE - I love white zin and generally stay away from Chardonnay (not you, honey! But I did notice a familiar-looking avatar on your blog! ) because it (a lot of times) has too much of a bite for me. But hey, if that's all there is, I choose not to go without! I recently found some good wine in cute little individual boxes (like kids drink boxes) at Target to take to the beach. The Pinot Grigio and the Chardonnay were both good!

When we were in SF we took a trip up to Sonoma and visited a couple of wineries. We really liked one of them called Viansa, they had the whole set up. Wine-tasting, store, Italian style villas, it was just beautiful!

To make a long story short, I ended up signing up for the Wine Club wherein they ship you some wine every month. Although I have been enjoying the wine, I think they've upgraded my membership, and the cost per month has been somewhat staggering! I am about to call them and downgrade the membership. Here are some of the wines I've received in the past few months.

Most have been very satisfying, and all are red wines, although I thought I signed up for white wines!

(as you can tell, we still have a few to go thru!)

Make room for me and Afghan Clay in the white zin and bead corner!!!

OT - I found some great pix of the Quebec City Paul McCartney performance for ya lucky!

I couldn't pick you out in the crowd tho, maybe you can since you know what you were wearing!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

[FromClaygary]

Perma, good to hear you're OK! Hope all the rest of our Californians check in as well!

[cha cha trusty]

Glad everyone in CA is OK!! I can't imagine what an earthquake must be like - how scary!!

Let's have some more pretties on this page!!

[claygirl9131]

Perma-glad to know you are OK

COTTON That Pic

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the banner!!

ETA!! I am no longer a dog walker!!!!

[justclay12]

KAndre, you always make me laugh. I'm with you on the wines. I like sweet and usually cheap. The ones that have hardly any alcohol and remind me more of punch with a kick. Same with mixed drinks, which I usually choose by how pretty it looks.

I'm getting lots of stuff done at home and work but I want Clay. I'm starting to suffer from withdrawals.

[luckiest1]

OT - I found some great pix of the Quebec City Paul McCartney performance for ya lucky!

I couldn't pick you out in the crowd tho, maybe you can since you know what you were wearing!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Thank you so much for the link! I right-clicked and saved every picture on that page. Great memories! I don't see us either, but what are the odds with 270,000 people?

Yikes about the earthquake. Keep checking in, Californians!

[Iseeme]

Hi there - another Californian checking in who didn't even know there was an earthquake until I logged on here! Didn't feel a thing - but then I'm about 600+ miles away! Yosemite is still burning though. California must have pissed off Mother Earth pretty good this year!!! Maybe she doesn't like Arnold!!

KAndre - I'm laughing like crazy at your trip report. So much of it is pretty familiar as far as places and prices!! The parking at Fisherman's Wharf is totally outrageous - and the parking tickets are even worse if you do find something on the street. However, SusanDavis and I parked at the aquariuim in Boston after the Worcester IT and an hour and a half later (because - pardon the expression - it was so cold our snot was freezing) it cost us $27 to bail the car out! Damn tourist traps!!! And point of clarification - I do believe the Golden Gate is orange! A reddish-orange in a stretch. I think the name came from the sun shining on it making it look gold. But the sun doesn't shine on it too often....heh! There is something really quite beautiful in seeing the fog come over the top of it and drop down into the Bay though....sigh!

Beautiful banner Cindi.

COTTON - HELLO!!!! More about the food network and the Clay on the Paula show commercial. No date? HUH? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee that means it's really going to happen though.

Won't comment on the White Zin drinkers......... Always thought that was just kool-aid with a smallish kick! There is a winery up here though that makes the most wonderful eiswein.

CM - you are truly a wine professional!!! I, on the other hand, am a professional wino!!!

Found this on Paula's site:

Join Food Network's queen of southern cuisine, Paula Deen, for Paula's Party every Friday night at 10pm/9c for an hour of great food and outrageous fun with your favorite celebrity guests! Expect the unexpected when you drop in on Paula: you never know what's going to happen! Here is a small taste of who you can expect to see cooking with Paula at the party this season; Rosie O'Donnell, Tony Danza, Lorraine Bracco, Jason Priestley, Susan Lucci, Mario Lopez, Cameron Mathison, Isaac Mizrahi, Tyson Beckford, Patti LaBelle, Dionne Warwick, Clay Aiken, Antonio Sabato Jr. and many more! You won't want to miss a delicious moment!

[Cotton]

ETA!! I am no longer a dog walker!!!!

Congrats!!! Yay, you!!!

ISEEME, what I know is what I posted!

I almost missed him! I just looked up in time to see him making that funny face - looking like he was beginning to shake his head like he does at "us" sometimes!

There was no mention of anybody's name, just that the seasons starts - Aug 2nd or something?

***

Did I mention the curtains are DONE?!!!!

Pat me on the back and give me a cookie!

Still not quite ready to take pics yet. And I'm really upset I forgot to take a "before" pic! Poo!

ETA:

Holy Crap!!

I'm an Executive Producer!~!! :7:

Should I be looking at baby clothes???

Don't worry, I'll smack myself . . .

[ldyjocelyn]

More information on the Paula's Party promo, from Mandler at getclayaiken.com:

Just saw Clay on a promo for the new season of Paula's Party. He's the third guest they show, and it's very quick at the beginning. "Paula is kissing, canoodling, and cooking with the stars" or something like that, and it shows him making a goofy face when they say "cooking."

[Iseeme]

Cotton said:

I'm an Executive Producer!~!!

Should I be looking at baby clothes???

Okay, that's just damn funny! :lmaosmiley-1:

[spikesmom]

I always forget, but it's always a nice surprise to log in on Tuesday's and get the new banner! Beautiful cindilu (as always!)!!

Perma - glad to hear you're ok. We got an e-mail at work from our VP about the quake (as we have employees worldwide but a good size presence in CA - think large telecommunications company).

KAndre - love your recaps... look forward to each chapter!

Wine - ooooohhhhh... started out a white wine lover - and sweeter like Rieslings... moved into red as I have several friends that are big into it... my friends tend to like Shiraz... started with Merlot and have since moved more into Pinot Noir, Beaujolais and a Domaine du Sac (which I have no idea if that's just the name one of our local wineries christened it or if it's a kind that others have too but it's good... shows what I really know about wine! heh.). Went to a winery up in Interlochen (well, actually up the peninsula) when we were up there for the JBT - had a really nice ice wine there - sweet and pricey! - one glass was plenty! And have gone to one of the local wineries here - we actually have quite a few in Wisconsin. The one here was having a wine tasting so you could sample all their wines... that was nice. Made it a lot easier to make some purchases...

No gala for me... my oldest niece is getting married that day. So no sitting at the computer either awaiting reports... it's a good thing she's my favorite...

[Cotton]

V. Cool montage to As Long As We're Here - Katee and Josh from SYTYCD.

(youtube)

As Long As We're Here

[spikesmom]

V. Cool montage to As Long As We're Here - Katee and Josh from SYTYCD.

(youtube)

As Long As We're Here

Ha! Just came from watching it! Yes, very cool. My favorite couple from the show too....

[Cotton]

Another one with Muldar and Skully.

As Long As We're Here

[Bookwhore]

Holy Crap!!

I'm an Executive Producer!~!! :7:

Should I be looking at baby clothes???

:lmaosmiley-1: That just CMSU!

Ii thought about going to the gala. And GFI. I think a part of me is still believing that there will be a tour, and I'd much rather do that. This has been the longest dry spell I've ever had. I wonder if BF has any idea just how needy I've become? When I finally do get to see him I'll probably ravish him onstage and embarrass myself.

[Gibby]

sigh..thanks Gibby -- she ain't my girlfriend for nothing...I love this picture...the pictures of him singing Good New are some of my favorite of all time... this one particularly.

You're welcome, girlfriend! Heee - replying to your post means that I'm posting the picture, yet again. *DROOL*

Maybe someone can explain the way Vista does the file system to me....hee, and me a computer programmer! But it makes no sense to me. There are the usual file folders, and then there is another icon that is also a file folder somehow. I have files named the same things, that is what is so confusing. And for some reason, it set up my main Documents folder under Music/George Harrison. Weird!

Huh? I don't see identical file folders and icons. Am I blind?

ETA:

Sis just sent me this.

Redneck Tube Top

Look closely . . .

BWAH!!!! That's hilarious!

[FromClaygary]

V. Cool montage to As Long As We're Here - Katee and Josh from SYTYCD.

(youtube)

As Long As We're Here

Ha! Just came from watching it! Yes, very cool. My favorite couple from the show too....

That's just gorgeous! I've just discovered SYTYCD this year and am really enjoying it. What?? I've had other things to do other years!

Cindy, beautiful!! banner!

[Lotus]

cindilu..love the banner

KAndre I so enjoyed the latest installment of your SF trip.

once you got past the "I am LEMON, hear me roar"

Snort!

All this talk of wine..my daughter turned me on to Shiraz 5 years ago and I found myself buying Yellow Tail Shiraz...it was so popular at the time that it would sell out in no time. Now the cost of a bottle of wine here is about double what it was south of the border and I realized that there was a cheaper way to get my Shiraz hit and so started making it at the local U-Brew and wine store for a fraction of the price.

Since then I have made Merlot, Cabernet Sauvingnon, Brunello as well and for the summer a very nice white wine called Pacific Quartet which was so good right at bottling that I made another batch so that I can save it to try at 6, 12 and 18 months. Altho' I doubt that my palate is sophisticated enough to be able to distinguish all the notes they tell me will be revealed at those times.

Quite a difference from the wine drinking of my youth when cheap Chianti was the wine of choice...you got to get a great candle holder but oh boy that stuff was sour.

Bookwhore Ii thought about going to the gala. And GFI. I think a part of me is still believing that there will be a tour, and I'd much rather do that. This has been the longest dry spell I've ever had. I wonder if BF has any idea just how needy I've become? When I finally do get to see him I'll probably ravish him onstage and embarrass myself.

You'll probably have to get in line!

Cotton V. Cool montage to As Long As We're Here - Katee and Josh from SYTYCD.

(youtube)

As Long As We're Here

Thanks for posting this. They are my favourites also and I think it's pretty obvious how much the judges love them.

luckiest1 I just looked at the Paul McCartney photos and I have to say that I would have totally freaked out being in such a crush of people...I am filled with admiration.