The Most Beautiful Shoes in the World

birthday shoes: they are a tradition for me. the shoes don't have to be expensive, but they SHOULD be festive and maybe a little flashy. last month, my bgbff informed me that my 40th birthday pressie would be laboutins - 40, partly because it's a milestone, and partly because it's clearly going to take 5 years to save up the ridiculous amount of money that they cost. bored one night, i decided to look up laboutin's current seasonal offerings, just to see what was what. and that's when i discovered these magical shoes, which were clearly thought of, designed, and made specifically for me:

aren't they magnificent? now, as you may or may not know, christian laboutin sells his shoes for roughly $3000 a pop. yep, 3 thousand. but then during an image search - so that i could find a better picture of these lovelies - i discovered this site, which claims to sell REAL laboutins for only $188. there are 2 possible logical conclusions here: either a) they are fake ("slaboutins", as amy calls them), or 2) some obscure russian mafia member had to kill off someone's grandma and smuggle these out of the factory. truth is, i'm not sure sure i care either way. i mean, DID YOU SEE THE SHOES??? they are magical and good, and NEED to be part of my wardrobe. (they will then be known as my "faux dragon" shoes, thanks to a convo with rob.) so if anyone out there wants to buy me some magical birthday shoes (HI, MOM!), you should go HERE. and since the site says they'll be delivered within 7 days, if you order tomorrow (size 39 or 39.5 EU, please), they should be here in time for me to wear to benihana's on the 20th.

just trying to be helpful...

Wow, How Time Flies When You're a Mess...

the last time i posted was on may 18th - nearly 10 months ago. i'm really not sure what happened, besides the fact that life became to much for me to even comment on any more. which i realize is kind of sad and pathetic, but there you have giraffes. to bring you - and me - up to speed, i'll just bullet point the last year...

• got stuck in virginia till the end of the school year. planned to spend a few weeks with my parents and then move back to florida.
• my grandfather died right as i was moving, and i ended up staying in mo-town for a couple months to help out and things.
• moved to florida at the end of august. stayed with rob for a few months while i attempted to save up money to have my own place.
• started teaching ballroom dance at various schools as an after-school program, and working with a dance studio as an assistant.
• only at the studio one day a week now, still teaching ballroom, will be teaching tap, jazz, and ballet as well. hoping this will continue to pay the bills...
• still a big fat emotional mess. can't always be bothered to get up in the morning. working on this.
• a friend of mine is staying with me for now whilst she sorts out some issues in her life. this is awesome because she rocks and it's nice to have the company - and the pressure to actually care about my home environment. however, it's been a while since i had a roommate, so i have to remember how to be a good one. (rob doesn't exactly count because a. we're very similar; 2. it's like living with family; and also i kinda had my own side of the house.)
• discovered that my medical issues and "fibromyalgia" seems to be, in fact, celiac disease. great that i can control it just with my diet; sucks because gluten is EVERYWHERE and it's become very inconvenient and expensive to eat.
  
  i think that about covers it. i'll try to actually post now. i think it's best if i give myself some sort of outlet, and i haven't in quite a while. we'll see how this goes...

Cherry Blossoms, Beavers, Frozen Yogurt, and Wax Figures

rob and i ventured into d.c. friday and saturday to wander about and take part in the cherry blossom festivities. as previously discussed, i sucked at life friday, but i was a bit better on saturday and much fun was had. high points of the weekend included, but were not limited to:

• discovering fro-zen-yo downtown; self-serve frozen yogurt and toppings for a very low price. and YUMMY!!
• fun photos at madame tussaud's
• a boat tour organizational mishap that led to an entertaining cruise around the potomac and anacostia rivers
• walking around the basin and taking pictures of the breathtaking sight that is the circle of cherry blossom trees in full bloom
• discovering ella's wood fire pizza and the deliciousness that was the "verdura" pizza
• meeting paddles the beaver (who reminds us all not to pick the cherry blossoms)
• 

Just Hand Me the Green Sippy Cup And No One Gets Hurt

this past weekend i went to orlando for a little r & r, some bnl, and a few other initials. the flight i found took me up to nyc before heading down to florida - because clearly, it's cheaper to take 2 flights instead of one and head north before going south - but should have been fairly easy. flight at 12:50, an hour layover at jfk, then into orlando at 5:40. yeah, i should know better. i found bwi, parked out in the long-term lot, and made it to my flight on time. i boarded the plane and we started toward the runway. then we sat there. and sat there. finally the captain came on, appologized, and explained that jfk was "regulating the volume of planes in and out of the airport," and we'd be sitting on the tarmac for another 50 minutes till we were cleared to leave. fantastic. then later in the flight, we were instructed to go into a holding pattern over atlantic city. when we finally touched down, and i made my way to the terminal (just 2 minutes before my next flight was scheduled to leave), i found out that it had actually left early. lovely. ok, no problem, just have to find the next flight. which wasn't till 8:30 that night. it was the only other flight from jfk to mco. so eventually they found me a flight to boston, which then connected with a flight to orlando. fine. then the flight to boston was delayed. when i got to boston, i had to switch airlines, and therefore terminals. wonderful. seriously, i must have walked over a mile - and quickly - to get to the delta flight. there were no trams, so i had to hoof it through corridor after corridor, down an escalator, and to another terminal, where i had to go through security again. at this point, it's 7:05 and my flight is set to leave at 7:20. and of course they have to look through my bag. "i'm never making my flight," i said wearily to the nice man who had to shake down my luggage. "what time?" he asked. i told him. "no problem, just head down that escalator and it'll be straight ahead. good! down the escalator, check. then.... not so much. three more long corridors (two of which had people-movers that were broken) up another escalator, then down to the end of the terminal to get to the gate. i was the next to last person to get on before the aircraft doors were shut. luckily we had an extremely entertaining old queen of a flight attendant that made me laugh. plus, my card wouldn't go through when i tried to pay for a fruit and cheese tray (i hadn't been able to eat since noon-ish), so he gave it to me for free. when i finally got to orlando, and finally got to rob's car, he handed me a green sippy cup (well, a sports bottle) full of gentleman jack and coke. and that, dear reader, is a good friend.

The Laws of the Universe

i swear, in some cosmic rule book somewhere, there is a footnote at the bottom of a clause in the back of an index (in italics) stating that karen rose gibson, born september 20, 1976 in indianapolis, indiana, currently residing in orlando, florida (clearly, the cosmic rule book updates every few weeks to keep on top of things) may not successfully plan any events in conjunction with her birthday. i'm not sure why this is, it just... is. my mother tried arguing with me, but i proved myself right at every turn. sweet 16? spent the 4 or 5 days leading up to it in and out of the hospital with my first ever blinding and uncommonly severe migraine. didn't know if i would even be able to have my party, and half my friends didn't show because they didn't think it was still on. turning 21? that was dress/tech for arkansas bear; i was in the theatre from 8 in the morning to almost 10 at night. when we went out for drinks afterward, everyone drank faster than i did, causing me to slow down (and then stop) because my d.d.'s were all hammered and we had to get home somehow. 23? in overnight rehearsals plus working my normal shifts. for two weeks straight. 27? everybody that mattered had to work late (like till 2 in the morning) all weekend - except demasi, who took me out to dinner, but since we both worked early the next morning, we were in bed by like 10. 30? i had been planning (for close to a year and a half) to go to vegas for that birthday, but in the end, no one could work out the money or the days off, and i certainly wasn't going to someplace like vegas for the first time by myself. last year? oooh, that's a two-parter, and possibly the worst yet: a) john, dale, and i had planned to go see the cure in early september, but the band cancelled the fall tour due to illness and injuries, and didn't resume until may of this year, and 2) i woke up in the wee hours of the 20th to being violently ill, the very beginning of a sickness seems to be permanent.

now, i'm not writing this as a "poor me" blog, and i swear i'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty - this just happens every single year, no matter how much i try to thwart it. and this year, especially, i felt as though - since i had somehow survived the shittiest year ever - i deserved a weekend of birthday fun, with lots of people and activities. i really should have known better. but instead of focusing on what didn't happen, i'm going to list the good things about this weekend. (the first paragraph was just to fill you in so you know why i'm listing. background information, or exposition, if you will.)

1. rob and i discovered an amazing artist at tu tu tango's. you can look at her artwork here.

2. tu tu's makes creme brulee the way it was meant to be made - it was amazing.

3. i found not only birthday shoes, but a birthday hat as well.

4. the planet smoothie near work has a cafe; i tried it on saturday, and the chicken caesar wrap - made with chunks of fresh grilled chicken and real pita bread (like the kind gyros come in) was awesome.

5. i got a birthday massage from my massage therapist, and as such, it was a gift.

6. said massage therapist is selling some of my jewelry (more on this later).

7. as mom and i left after our massages, there was an amazingly beautiful double rainbow to greet us. it was so vivid, you could even see both bands of violet, which you can rarely see clearly.

8. me, my parents, rob's parents, and the robs had a cook-out and enjoyed a lovely evening of food and conversation and playing dominoes and deserts. there were lots of yummy desserts. (hmmm... there's a lot of food on this list...)

9. rob's dad make one of his famous cheese balls for the occasion. (ok, apparently much of what's good in my world consists of tasty treats...)

so, good stuff there... as i've learned in the past year, it's all about perspective, and i need to find the most positive one and stick with it. it's the best way to survive.

Because Grover Asked...

i like white grape juice. i'd go so far to say that it's one of my favorite juices. it is, however, only about 30% of the reason why i bought mini-juice-boxes of apple & eve's white grape juice. the overwhelming majority of reason is the fact that grover is the spokesmodel (spokesmonster?) on the boxes. on the back panel, he encourages us to get up and get moving by creating a silly dance move and practicing it with our family and friends. (hey, that's waaaaay more my speed than running around or going to the gym.) as i drank down my 4.23 oz (125 ml) of juicy goodness, i noticed a posting on the side of the box. it reads as follows:

"I, your cute and loveable (sic) pal Grover, travel all over the world to learn new and amazing things from my friends. What did you learn from your friends today?"

well, grover, since you asked so nicely, i will overlook your spelling errors and think about what i learned today.

1. i learned that i can identify shaunathan from across the room, no matter what he might be wearing or (is supposed to be) acting like.

2. if you are holding a sleeping baby, people invariably smile at you and are more pleasant than if you are not doing so.

3. jen and i are big fat dorks when we're together - and i love it because we have so much fun.

4. rob and i both used the word "oubliette" today, completely separately. i used it while tutoring, and he then used it whist on the phone with me. how often does that happen with a word like oubliette? (and we weren't making labyrinth references at the time, either.)

5. i'm not the only one glad that one of our students is almost done with his hours...

6. my friends are awesome and endlessly supportive and i appreciate them very much.

thanks for the soul-searching idea, grover! it's a good thing i bought those juice boxes... i might have missed the great opportunity. and that, my friend, would have been not so cute and "loveable".

Eat Your Heart Out, Kevin Hearn

my hands hurt. it hurts to type this a little. my arms hurt too. i feel as though i just did 6 back-to-back track a shows. (for those of you non-disney/non-puppeteer types, this means my shoulders are a little tense and the muscles of my forearms and right hand are starting to cramp up.) i have actually bruised the pads of my index, middle, and ring fingers on my right hand; they scream something fierce if i push down on them.

what, you may be asking, did she do to herself this time? is it a bad fibro day (please see past blogs for clarification)? did she find some sort of steep staircase to throw herself down? was she hanging on for dear life off a precipice with just her upper body strength to save her? (okay, i know that if my life depended on my upper body strength, i'd be a gonner in 20 seconds) no, it was much more strenuous than any of that.

rob and i discovered guitar hero III for the wii.

yes, we are dorks. yes, we spent the better part of 8 hours testing our shredding skills (that's what it's called, right?) to the tune of weezer, guns n roses, and social distortion. and yes, i'm now finding it hard to type because of this. but my band (eurema's cinnamon) just finished it's tour of tokyo. and rob's band (the burning retinas) completed the whole set list on easy.

by the way, have you played this game? granted, i play left-handed because for some odd reason the wiring between the musical section of my brain and my hands is mixed up, but this stuff is hard. the songs on medium are too difficult for me, and it's proving challenging to rob. there's still hard and expert. i'll wager even brian may would have difficulties with the hard or expert settings. i wonder if it's harder or easier for people who already know how to play a guitar. i mean, on one hand, you're used to strumming with one hand and chording with the other, but it's not like you're actually playing real chords - you're just pushing colored buttons. anyone got an answer for that one?

so i need to take a few days off from band rehearsal so my hands can heal. ah, the things we musicians suffer through for our art....

How To Have An Excellent Day

1. wake up around 8 feeling tired, but rested.
2. feel only a little bit achy and sore, knowing you should feel a whole lot worse.
3. go see your massage therapist, who also happens to be a fantastic human being.
4. hang out and play super mario brothers while you wait for a good friend to have his massage.
5. browse in borders and buy some fun books that are on sale.
6. have wonderful japanese food for lunch with abovementioned friend, whilst sharing pointless trivia you find in one of those on-sale books.
7. go home and nap. for four hours.
8. visit the home of the friend's parents. eat pizza. drink root beer. play mexican train with the dominoes (the tiles, not the pizza. it was flipper's). spill a drink or two. listen to big band and swing music. laugh.
9. go home again, check email, and head to bed.

yuppers... that's a pretty great day...

Things I Have Learned This Weekend:

1. in mandarin, the phonetic sound 'ma' means mother. however, if you drag it out an extra sylable and raise the pitch of your voice at the end, it means 'horse'. use and abuse with family members accordingly.

2. teachers take their beer pong seriously. it can become particularly vicious if you pit two super troopers against beth the bounty hunter and the devil. sitting several feet away is advised.

3. this virus is no joke. yesterday i had to carry in four - count 'em, four - bags of groceries, only one of which was even remotely weighty with canned goods. i quite literally had to sit down for almost ten minutes to recover enough to go out and get the 24-pack of water. after which i had to sit down next to the fridge in order to take them out of the plastic and refridgerate them. i didn't even have the energy to stand there and do it. ridiculous.

4. i like port wines. actually, i really really like port wines. particularly tawny ports. specifically aged tawny ports. i'm not a big wine drinker, and i'm really not a fan of red wines, so i wasn't thinking port would be something i'd like, but it turns out that if you throw in some brandy, it makes everything a little better. no, it makes everything a lot better.

5. also, port wines have to come from porto, portugal to officially be port; otherwise it's just a blended wine. just like real champagne has to come from the champagne region of france, or it's just a sparkling wine.

6. besides having no appetite to alert me when i'm hungry, i also seem to currently be without the ability to tell if i'm full. this means that if i sit down to eat, i don't know how much my body needs. i will eat whatever's in front of me until my stomach feels as though it's stretching like a balloon filled with lead. this (by the way) is not a comfortable feeling. i'm going to have to start weighing and measuring my food like a beauty pagent queen from here on out...

it's been a very educational weekend.