#40: He simply makes me smile when I see him.

[Scarlett]

Thanks for all the good wishes! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

The weather in Newark is gorgeous. Wish we could take it home with us. Have a great time at the beach playbiller! *waves enthusiastically!!!*

jmh, I hope you don't forget our date to do this + Shanghai/Beijing someday!

That was fun but it's great to be back. Just wish I don't have to write recaps by candlelight.

BTW, any recommendations on food items that will keep forever but aren't boring? When we get back to Houston tonight I'm going out to get a few supplies -- I don't want to have to cut open and eat my banana plants, thought these used to be the staple "after a hurricane substitute for heart-of-palm" back when I was a child, owing to the number of plants uprooted by a storm.

[merryclay]

My favorite Clay was Spamalot Clay when he was waving from the roof. I'll never Forget that.

[wandacleo]

Ack! I've been taking Idiian (as in India) cooking classes. and in a moment of insanity I invited friends over for an Indian dinner.

Oh. My. God. I've been chopping for frigging hours.

WHAT WAS I THINKING???????

[jmh123]

in Newark, lounging around the President's Club, waiting for our flight.

Ooops - so you weren't on the flight that departed about the time your posted this.

jmh, I hope you don't forget our date to do this + Shanghai/Beijing someday!

I haven't forgotten. Maybe lilyshine will go too!! Someday....

Wandacleo, I wish I was close enough to be invited. LOL. I'd even help chop.

[lilyshine]

Ack! I've been taking Idiian (as in India) cooking classes. and in a moment of insanity I invited friends over for an Indian dinner.

Oh. My. God. I've been chopping for frigging hours.

WHAT WAS I THINKING???????

The secret to Indian cooking is to do it the way they do in India ...

have a bunch of servants do the chopping.

ETA. I counting my pennies already! But first to NewYorkalot!

[Ansamcw]

Ack! I've been taking Idiian (as in India) cooking classes. and in a moment of insanity I invited friends over for an Indian dinner.

Oh. My. God. I've been chopping for frigging hours.

WHAT WAS I THINKING???????

The girls, SIL and I did an authentic Indian supper once...everything from scratch...we were tired in the end and the Kitchen was a mess but the supper was delicious. Then one day I was in the grocery store and I see these bottled Indian Sauces...papadams and basmatti rice. I could have

recreated our dinner by myself...hee

good luck and have fun with it!

whats your menu?

[00lsee]

Ack! I've been taking Idiian (as in India) cooking classes. and in a moment of insanity I invited friends over for an Indian dinner.

Oh. My. God. I've been chopping for frigging hours.

WHAT WAS I THINKING???????

I'm thinking...FOOD PROCESSOR!

[FearofH2O]

Scarlett said:

BTW, any recommendations on food items that will keep forever but aren't boring? When we get back to Houston tonight I'm going out to get a few supplies -- I don't want to have to cut open and eat my banana plants, thought these used to be the staple "after a hurricane substitute for heart-of-palm" back when I was a child, owing to the number of plants uprooted by a storm.

Twinkies. I think they have a shelf life of 100 years unless they have invented a new organic Twinkie which would have a shelf life of 1 week.

I'd go for canned goods along with fruit, bread, preserved meat and cheese. Oh don't forget the raw nuts too. I like almonds. Cereal and you can get that milk that is preserved in boxes. Don't forget ice to put in coolers. We've lost power several times for days on end. Propane if you can use it too.

[LAluvsClay]

KF,

I do not want Gustav to visit Houston, but in a way, I think it would be better for Houston to take the hit than New Orleans. Those people have suffered enough from Katrina. From what I hear, they are not even sure that the levees will hold even though they claim to have fixed them. If the storm remains a category 4 or gets stronger, I do not know if New Orleans can take that hit. We do not have levees in Houston, so that is one less thing to worry about. We are also not below sea level even though we are pretty low.

Best thing is to pray that the storm fizzles out and looses strength before it hits any of our shores. It happened with Rita which was coming in as a category 5. I saw where Scarlett mentioned those of us that were near the water so I decided to check in to let her know that I am ok.

While I also wish Gustav would fizzle before it reaches land, I agree that Houston could take the blast better than poor NO. We were in Houston last year for Clay's tour stop and it rained and rained. There was flooding, not like storm surges from a hurricane blast, but the city is on higher ground and the water receded. NO would be under water for weeks.

We moved to Round Rock, a bit north of Austin, in Sept of '06 and have had more 'interesting' weather than we had in all my years in SoCal. I love the rain, and big blue skies, heck even the thunder. And tornedo watches/warnings have almost become ho hum.

Looooove the pix and mosaics. The man is gorgeous even when he doesn't look his best. I still have 5th Grader on my DVR and I think I'll go look at it again. When I watched it live I was too concerned about him winning big, that while I noticed something a miss about his appearance, I couldn't decide what was wrong. Unfortunately I'm not good about enjoying his TV appearances -- barring Kimmel or course -- the first time I see them because his goofy side seems to take over. Goofy Clay is adorable, but not, for me, during interviews done by people. like Leno maybe, who may not like him as much as we do. But I'm missing him and even silly Clay would hit the spot.

Thanks for the welcomes!

[wandacleo]

Ansa Here's the menu:

Sambhar dhal (spicy lentil soup with chopped vegetables and coconut-- squash, eggplant, potatoes, onions, Brussels sprouts, tomatoes).

Medu vada--pureed lentils mixed with spices, onion, chilis and deep-fried to float in the soup. (Like a spicy light salty donut).

Pohe--spicy parched rice with chilis and peanuts

Paratha--fried flat bread.

I just finished chopping the cilantro that gets sprinkled on everything. Everything else is in some stage of preparation. I have to fry the medu vada at the last minute and finish the pohe right before dinner too.

I will fry myself a paratha in a few minutes as a test. I just had a big bowl of test dhal. I'll be stuffed like a damned toad by the time I serve dinner.

Wish you all were here!!!!

[HippoGA]

My favorite Clay was Spamalot Clay when he was waving from the roof. I'll never Forget that.

[playbiller]

Before Clay got on the roof that day,there was aphotographer, but I remember someone else being on the roof earlier in the run, not Clay, but someone else - anyone remember? I can't remember anyone else leaving but Sir Glalahd, yet, I think it predated that. Maybe the adjoining theater?

It was a good day, that last day, it followed to closely after the BCA/EB and the album was ready to come out (the album I happen to lorve - don't pick on that sweetie or I wil smack you) and Clay had his own little surprise.

[saltwaterdog]

I adored the blond instantly and I’m sure that I will miss it from time to time. <g> And I totally agree that eyeliner Clay was smokin’ hott. I never wanted to lick him more.

Yeah that!

Couchie, so you're the other person who voted for the Lickables and Clickables. I seldom have time to read everything, but I almost always make time to look at the pictures.

cha cha I agree with the others who said not to give up on your hard drive yet. I deleted my entire photo album earlier and with lots of work and an expensive program, I got the pictures back.

[cha cha trusty]

damn damn damn

the very catastrophe I was trying to avoid had already happened.

the hard drive I had all my shots and vids from spam visits on, went bad.

not to mention a bunch from vacation, daughter's best friend's wedding, morgan event.

all gone.

fuck fuck fuck

I'm depressed.

{{{hugs}}} to all dealing with Gustav, and happy trails to all travelers.

cha cha... take it to a computer guru. Often stuff can be recovered. Good luck!!!

{{{Cha cha}}}, but don't give up. When my hard drive was going, sometimes it would work, and sometimes it wouldn't. I rebooted once or twice a day to check. On the days it worked, I immediately hooked it up to an external to grab files until it died again, starting with the most important. One time it worked really well, and I managed to get almost everything. If that doesn't work, as liney said, take it to a guru. There's hope!!

I think Scarlett and KAndre should be in Newark by now, and boarding shortly for Houston. Safe travels, y'all!! :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Thanks, but I think I'm screwed. It's an external HD and the files that got messed up had weird symbols in them, instead of the files (photos, vid, etc). I ran a chkdsk and it said they were unretrievable, and now they aren't even there. I had dupes of a very small number, but most have vanished.

:sad:

:mad:

:pissed off:

:depressed:

:not having a good day:

Thanks for the hugs.

[ldyjocelyn]

This is cool! From the CH:

From woodstock2 at Claymaniacs via CV:

CLAY MENTION ON QVC!!!

The lady calling (I didn't catch her name so it could be one of you) told the host she was going to see Clay Aiken in Spamalot on opening night and she was buying the outfit for that event. She said she would go several times and would buy all her clothes from QVC. The host was Jackie Gonzales who was the host when Clay was on, so they had a good conversation about Clay. Jackie didn't know he was going back to Spamalot. She asked if the caller had seen him in it before and she said YES and he was wonderful and told Jackie she needed to go. Jackie said Clay was a very nice man and besides his talent, she admired him for all the humanitarian things he does. The caller said that all the Clay fans were watching that show and they could tell that Jackie liked him and said we appreciated that. Anyway, KUDOS for Clay!!! And kudos to the caller for getting Clay and Spamalot some airtime when LOTS of people were watching. QVC has a huge audience. I was very excited!!!

Apparently the caller was lsdollylovesclay at CB who posted the following in this thread:

I just gave a Shout Out to Clay on QVC...I purchased an outfit to wear on opening night and spoke to Jackie Gonzalez who raved about the time she hosted his performances on QVC...she was so sweet and spent time talking about his charity and how nice he was. She also said she'd try to get to see him in Spamalot this time. Im so excited I got to plug his latest run!!! Told the whole country he'd be there until January....and the best part was that Jackie was so sincere, and in no hurry to end the conversation!!

I'm so sorry about your hard drives cha cha....

[cha cha trusty]

I adored the blond instantly and I’m sure that I will miss it from time to time. <g> And I totally agree that eyeliner Clay was smokin’ hott. I never wanted to lick him more.

Yeah that!

Couchie, so you're the other person who voted for the Lickables and Clickables. I seldom have time to read everything, but I almost always make time to look at the pictures.

cha cha I agree with the others who said not to give up on your hard drive yet. I deleted my entire photo album earlier and with lots of work and an expensive program, I got the pictures back.

I'm with Heidi - YUM!!!

Thanks salt!

[jamar1700]

Twinkies. I think they have a shelf life of 100 years unless they have invented a new organic Twinkie which would have a shelf life of 1 week.

For some odd reason my periodontist has kept a Twinkie in his desk drawer for about 10 years now. He'll show it to you any time you ask too.

[BettyJean]

Aloha,

I'm still a little lost over here, but will find my way soon, I'm sure. Just wondering where do I post any blends I make of CLAY. in this thread or somewhere else?

Anyone who may come to Hawaii, just let me know and I'll be glad to be a tour guide.

Hoping all those in the possible path of Gustav are in a safe area now. I know about those hurricanes, not nice, but we haven't had any since our Cat.4 one 16 yrs. ago, (knock on wood!!!)

By the way LALUVSCLAY, we were from Orange county 26 years ago. The weather, etc. over here is better since we do get those nice shower blessings off and on. LOL

BBL, Betty Jean

[RIFAN]

My favorite Clay was Spamalot Clay when he was waving from the roof. I'll never Forget that.

Just wanted to say hello!! You may not remember me, but we spoke in line as we were entering the Shubert on May 3 for the afternoon show. You showed me your bracelet with the hippos and explained your screen name to me and I recognized the screen name from CB.

My plan had been to go to the afternoon show and take the train and return to RI that evening. However, my travel mates had different plans and we ended up also seeing the evening show and getting back to RI at 3:30 am!! Would I do it again?? In a heartbeat!!! My only regret is that I was not there on May 4 to see Clay on that rooftop.

Anyway, welcome to you and all the newbies. I am not a frequent poster, but I do read nearly every day.

Hope you are lucky enough to be going back to Spamalot!

Right after I posted this, I noticed BettyJean from Hawaii in the post above.

Aloha!! Glad to have you here!!

[bottlecap]

Aloha,

I'm still a little lost over here, but will find my way soon, I'm sure. Just wondering where do I post any blends I make of CLAY. in this thread or somewhere else?

:F_05BL17blowkiss: Welcome, and yes, please post any of your Clay blends right here in this thread. As you may have gathered, we love any and all pictures and Clay blends here at FCA!

That reminds me: cindilu2! I need a September calender wall paper! Whatcha got for us?

[woo lovereyes]

Long time no post. :F_05BL17blowkiss:

Took a loong break from the boards for various reasons. Nothing related to Clay and the baby news. Am totally fine with that. I pretty much just lurking here and thought I jump into the convo.

I love, love Indian food and feel just like bellying up to wandacleo's table tonight. Just read the book

The Space Between Us: A Novel by the Indian author Thrity Umrigar, a wonderful, emotional read. I highly recommend it!

No Spamalot for me this time around but I'm looking forward to recaps and stage door pics.

Cheers, :bier:

[playbiller]

If you look at the top of the page there is a gallery (look immediately under the banner) you can store pictures in as well. Sometimes my computer stops dead on the pages here when there are a lot of high quality pictures - this does not give anyone permission to stop posting them though! 5 going on 6 year old computers are kind of out of the running as the boss of us.

[Couch Tomato]

wooo woooo for wooooo heee

Nice to see you. I just love that name and smile when I think of you changing your usual screen name to woo lovereyes. It's just really cute.

SO I'm all alone today. For the past few days I had noticed a little slip backwards for my mom... not with depression but with her anxiety. So that was a bit depressing. It's no where near as bad as it was though and I had my sister take her on a little road trip. Just getting up and taking a shower and getting dresses up and hanging around different people (not to mention that cute little pooch) will probably be good for her.

Wandacleo..hope your dinner turns out well. Cracking up at your tasting everyting. Hey I do that when I cook. Have to get it just right!

[LAluvsClay]

the album was ready to come out (the album I happen to lorve - don't pick on that sweetie or I wil smack you) and Clay had his own little surprise.

I'm crazy about OMWH too! Love it, love it, love it. Looking back at the vid we saw while he was making the album adds a whole other layer to what he must have been thinking. I remember wondering why Jaymes wasn't shown. Also, when he, in his green sweater, leaned over the piano watching the piano player. Then he looked over at Kipper with such a pensive smile. He probably had a million things running though his mind.

Re the hair color discussion: I remember when he dyed his natural red/blond hair dark the first time. Man did I dislike it. Then when he had his close to natural hair color for the album cover and promo tour, I couldn't get used to that either. Knowing Clay, he'll go through a lot more styles and colors as time goes by. I must admit that the dark blond with highlights sounds veeeeery interesting.

Hippo thanks for posting the Spam Goodbye gif. I could look at that for hours (wishing it would slow down so I could see more.)

[Cotton]

Couchie and Couchiemom :F_05BL17blowkiss:

I hope she had a good day with her change of scene.

Good for you to have a little alone time, too!

Jaymes was shown in one of the webisodes. She was sitting at a table though. Clay sat down beside her and twirled around in his chair!

You know - like you used to twirl around on the drug store/soda fountain stools?

ETA: