Immortal Beloved

Exactly 200 years ago yesterday, in a letter to his brothers which was later titled The Heiligenstadt Testament, Beethoven announced he had been stricken by deafness. This was the first time Beethoven's affliction became public, when in actuality, he had become deaf six years earlier. In his letter, Beethoven blamed his deafness for his moodiness, depression, and volatile temper. Beethoven's hearing loss brought on intense feelings of inadequacy which plagued him the rest of his life. He thought that he, above everyone else, should possess the ability to hear his own creations.

Which Tori Amos B-Side are you?





"Just the two of us"

Which Strange Little Girl would you be?

boats made out of paper float
dreams made up for the banana king, darling

Ok, so I want to make my own wedding invitations. I love the look of handmade paper and I'd like to try and incorporate that sort of material into an invitation somehow. I found paper-making instructions here, but it seems like an awfully messy task. Maybe put in some dried flowers, or flower petals. But do I really want to get my blender involved in this? I'm not so good with household appliances.

up on the 101

Yesterday marked the third time in a week that I have heard a sorta fairytale played on commercial radio. Well, ok, so Baldwin-Wallace College's radio station WBWC The Sting isn't exactly commercial, but it's close enough. Anyway, this is the most I have heard Tori Amos played in regular rotation anywhere in Cleveland since 1998 when from the choirgirl hotel was released. (What does Cleveland have against Tori?!?) While I was listening yesterday on my way to the post office, I almost got in an accident because Tori came on and I got so excited that I swerved into the post office parking lot, narrowly missing an unsuspecting pedestrian.


Sue and I have started making plans to go to Columbus in November to see Tori in concert during the Scarlet's Walk Tour. Again! I love going to concerts with Sue. She gets just as excited as I do. We've been to several Tori shows and Ani DiFranco together. She respects the fact that I become totally mesmerized by these females, which causes me sometimes to forget where I am and what I am doing. Last year at the StrangeLittleTour I forgot that we weren't allowed to bring in cameras to the theatre, so she encouraged me to shove that sucker right down the front of my jeans. I did, we got in with no hassle, and now we have great pictures to help us remember what a good time we had.

The Whimsical Riviera Bakehouse

I saw this one morning on NBC's Weekend Today and thought it was the coolest looking cake. Then I was browsing around and found a whole bunch more! I love the Birthday Cake in the lower right hand corner. These are just too gorgeous to even think about eating!

Baker, baker, baking a cake; make me a day...

I marvel at the number of connections I've made through networking out here since I moved to the Cleveland area permanently in 1999. For instance, all the professionals who will be assisting in various activities come wedding day are people I know personally. The photographer I booked sings in my choir, and I give her daughter piano lessons. I work with a baker and a travel agent, not to mention a whole host of musicians.

My Travel Agent co-worker will help us book our Honeymoon to Aruba, probably in January 2004. We won't have time to go right after the wedding, nor will we want to, I suppose. Most likely we will spend the rest of the summer after the wedding doing things around the house, i.e. landscaping around where the pool used to be. I miss that pool.

Tonight, Kevin and I have plans to go check out a bakery upon my co-worker Baker's recommendation. I just hope the wedding cake baker is willing to give me exactly what I want. I'm envisioning tiny terra-cotta pots on a wedding cake to go along with the Garden Theme. We are still undecided on the flavor. I vote for cheesecake. Kevin votes for chocolate. Hmmm. Maybe we can have wedding pie instead.

a Bouvier till her wedding day...

I recently started reading Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot by J. Randy Taraborrelli. After finishing the section on "Whitehouse Infidelities", I could not get to sleep. (I have always been fascinated by the Kennedys. During the first trip I ever made to Cape Cod, I insisted upon visiting the Kennedy Compound in Hyannisport. I had hoped to catch some glimpse of something or someone, but I never did.) Anyway, last night I wondered about happy marriages. I thought about my parents. I thought about Kevin's parents. I thought about the parents of all my friends. All this thinking was probably why I slept like crap last night.