Sneaking In Under The Wire: *S-Z*

Yes, I am massively lamesauce for falling behind on the last 8 letters of the A-Z Challenge (usual story, illness, massively busy, family commitments, blah blah blah, but it is true, nonetheless). But, even though I had fallen behind, there was no way that I'd just bail out of the Challenge without finishing. So, better late than never, and just in time for the wrap-up of the Challenge, here are *S* through *Z*:

A television show that you enjoy that starts with *S*: Secret Diary of a Call Girl :) Billie Piper is AMAZING!!!

Coffee or Tea? TEA!!!!! As I may have mentioned once or twice, I'm really not much of a coffee person. I love the smell, and every once in awhile I will have a flavored iced-coffee, but by and large coffee is not my beverage of choice. However, I am completely enamored with Tea, hot and iced, herbal, green, black, red, chai, you name it, Lynn+Tea = LOVE :)

U is for Unitarian Universalist: (no survey question for this one, since I did something very specific regarding this letter very recently) One of the goals on my 30 by 30 List was to attend a Service at a Unitarian Universalist Church. Just yesterday, I attended a service celebrating Beltane, led by my dear friend and fellow blogger Merlyn, at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Society in Auburn,  NY. I'm going to do a whole blog about this very soon, but for the moment, let me say it was a wonderful experience and I'm very, very glad I went :)

If you could take a Vacation anywhere in the United States right now, where would you go? Somewhere along the Coast of South Carolina or Georgia (Charleston, Hilton Head Island, Savannah, etc). That region of the South is so breathtakingly beautiful this time of year, Spring is in full bloom, and the hard-core heat hasn't taken hold yet....*wistful sigh*, my kingdom for the fresh but sultry smell of ocean air and springtime blossoms.......

What are you Wearing today? I'm wearing a black v-neck long-sleeved shirt, black jeggings, a lightweight silvery-purple duster-length cardigan, and I had on my silver high-heeled rain boots at work today. (OMG I LOVE THOSE BOOTS!!! There nice enough to wear out to dinner, but they're also waterproof, so I can splash through puddles with them :) I'm also wearing my watch, my engagement ring and my locket :)

Have you ever had X-Rays? Yes, I've had x-rays at the dentist many times. I just recently had a full set of x-rays done when I went for my initial consult at the Chiropractor (which is going very well and I've started to see improvement already:).

Have you ever practiced Yoga? OH YES!!! I belonged to a wonderful Yoga studio when I lived in Brockport, NY, The Beyond Center for Yoga and Pilates. I absolutely adore Yoga. I was so happy when I was practicing yoga, I slept better, I had more energy, fewer headaches, and I felt so much more peaceful. I still practice some yoga at home, but I haven't rejoined a studio since returning to CNY, but that's due to a lack of time and money, not a loss of interest. It's high-up on my list of things to do as soon as I can squeeze it in. If there's anyone reading this in the Central New York Area who can recommend a good yoga program, I am all ears :)

First geographical location you can think of that starts with *Z*: Zagreb, Croatia.


Well, there you have it, Darlings, The A-Z Blogging Challenge for April 2012. Thank you to everyone who stopped by my blog, it may take me while, but I promise to respond to all the comments that new readers and friends have sent me :) Be Well and Happy Blogging!!!


XOXO
Lynnie :)

P, Q, R

Hey Folks,

Sorry, about the lag in posting, this week just got away from me, and I haven't mastered writing posts ahead of time yet. So, to speed things along and get back to where I need to be, I'm gonna steal an idea from my dear friend Nubby and do a survey question for each letter :)


P: Do you have a signature perfume or scent that you wear? Actually, no, I don't. I tend to like light, crisp, clean scents (think light florals, clean laundry, ocean air, things like that). I've have several perfumes/essential oils that I wear on occasion, and while I like them all, I haven't found the *one* scent that I think suits me perfectly. Hopefully someday ;)


Q: Favorite Queen Song? *Fat Bottom Girls*, no contest :)


R: Last Restaurant you went to?  appeThaizing, a delicious Thai restaurant up on the S.U. (Syracuse University) Hill, last Sunday evening. Pan fried tofu with sweet chili sauce, Pad Thai and Thai Iced Coffee (OMG NOM!).


Whee:)
Lynnie

O is for *Over the Hump*

Gonna sneak in under the wire again tonight with a quickie post:

O is for *Over the Hump*

Today, I looked at the *To Do List* for our wedding and realized that we have accomplished more already than there is left to do. Put more simply, we are more than halfway done with the wedding planning :) Don't mistake me, there's a TON left to do, but it's actually all starting to come together, we're over the crest of the hill  and we're gathering momentum for the final push through to nuptial day :) Huzzah :) While I have loved being engaged, I cannot wait to get married :)

xoxo
Lynnie

M and N are for *Migraine, No Post*

Greetings All,

  I'm sorry I missed Saturday's post, I was in the Finger Lakes all day and ushering for a play at the Shakespeare Festival all evening. I had a whole combined *M* and *N* post planned for tonight, but sadly, I got hit with a migraine a few hours ago and can't be in front of the computer screen longer than a few minutes because the glare from the monitor wreaks havoc on my eyes/head. So, a post, other than this placeholder/disclaimer isn't going to happen tonight, I apologize. If I end up with extra time later on, I'll come back to *M* and *N*, but for now I'm going back to the couch with an ice pack, and hopefully I'll be back with a real post for *O* on the 'morrow :)

Night Night :)
Lynn

L is for *Love List*

Hey Ho :)

   I'm borrowing the concept for today's *L* posting from a phenomenal retired blogger, Sayward, from the now, sadly, discontinued Bonazi Aphrodite (*sniff!* Miss her so much!)

  Anyway, every Friday, as part of her Weekend Send-Off, she would post a *Love List*, or list of things that she was loving from that week and looking forward that weekend/month/season/whatever. She would leave the posts up all weekend so readers could add their own Love Lists in the comments :)

  I think this idea is pretty dang awesome, and I'm hoping to incorporate it in some form into my own blogging efforts on a fairly regular basis after the A-Z Challenge is over :)

SO!!!

The Love List for 4/13/12

- Getting a good chunk of uninterrupted reading time on Monday with my latest book, 'The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova :)

- A friend who will drop everything and stay on the phone with me for two hours when I'm having a bad day, just to make sure I'm okay and let me vent

-Open Mic on Wednesday night with Merry Mischief and other old and new friends :)

- Cleaned out both closets, put away the winter coats and boots and reorganized the cupboards in the kitchen

- Leftover Easter Candy

- Drinking Sparkling water mixed with fruit or fruit juice out of fancy wineglasses

-Ushering this weekend for Love vs Time, the latest show at the Syracuse Shakespeare Festival

- Visiting a possible location for our Mini-Moon after our Wedding this September (big Honeymoon will be next year when Mikey has more vacation time)

Cheers!
Lynnie

K is for *Kinship*

Today feels a little bit like Christmas :)

    Okay, so there's no snow and no tree, and the gift I received today was not wrapped in pretty paper, but what I received today was so incredibly AWESOME that it really does evoke that same Christmas Morning excitement, plus a little more because this was pretty unexpected.

    Today I was given the gift of kinship or, more specifically, family history :) My Nana's brother, my Great Uncle Stanley, has become a genealogist in his retirement. He has been researching the family history on my mother's side for the better part of 20 years. (Side note, he will do this for other people as well, he's done quite a bit of  research into Mikey's family too). I always knew that he did this, and it would occasionally come up in conversation during family get-togethers and I found it very interesting, but, like so many other things you mean to do, it got lost in the shuffle of a busy life.

     A dear friend of mine has recently begun researching her own family history, and her efforts have rekindled my interest in my own. So, this past weekend over Easter, I talked more with my Uncle Stanley about our family's history, and he asked for my e-mail address and he said would send me everything he had. He sent me a series of e-mails today, and I'm sure there are more to come :)


YOWZA!!!!

I was completely unprepared for the volume and depth of the research my Uncle has done. He has traced my maternal lineage back SEVEN GENERATIONS!!!! My Mother's maiden name is Caufield, and he has traced the Caufield line back to my four times Great Grandfather Patrick Caufield who was born in County Louth, Ireland in 1787!!! My family is wicked Irish in that line, in addition to *Caufields*, there are *McKay's*, *Kelly's*, *Karney's*, *Driscolls* and a host of other Irish names.

Here is County Louth (it's a little ways North of Dublin)

Here is the County Louth Tartan :)

     It appears the Caufields were primarily a farming family and emigrated here in the late 1840's or early 1850"s, which coincides directly with the Great Famine/Potato Famine in Ireland that went on from 1845 to 1852. When they first arrived here, they settled in St. Lawrence County, and then a few generations later moved to Oswego County. I've only barely begun to penetrate all the family history that Uncle Stanley sent to me and I can't wait to read it in more depth and hopefully be able to add to it myself.


    I don't know if I can accurately describe how I feel right now.....the best word I can think of is "Connected". I am here because those people were here. I live because they lived, and even though they lived hundreds of years ago, there is still a part of them in me. That. Is. Amazing.


  I can see myself becoming massively addicted to Genealogy :)

  Love,
Lynn

J is for *Jokes*

Who doesn't love a good joke?


Here are a few of my favorites :)

Two of my faves from childhood:


"What do you get when you cross a chicken and a cow?

"Milk and Quackers!!!*


"How many inchworms does it take to make a foot?"

"None! Worms don't have feet!"


These two take a second to dawn on you:


'What's the difference between mashed potatoes and pea soup?"

"Anyone can mash potatoes!"


"What do you call four Spanish guys in quicksand?"

'Quattro Cinco" (if you don't speak Spanish you can skip this one)


One-Liners:

So, a Priest, a Minister and a Rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender takes one look at them and says "What is this, a joke?" (rim shot!)

A guy walks into a bar, the next guy ducks. (rim shot!)


And just for good measure, one naughty joke, from the incomparable Ms. Sophie Tucker ;)


"So, I'm standing in the kitchen when in walks my boyfriend Ernie, and he says to me "Soph, if you could learn how to cook we could fire the chef". I turned to him and said 'Ernie, if you could learn how to f*%k we could fire the chauffeur!"



Don't know who it was that said that laughter is the best medicine, but they were so incredibly right ;)

Got a favorite joke? Lay it on me :)
(Keep it reasonably clean and respectful please)

xoxo
Lynnie

I is for *Inspiration*

Although the uncut list is quite long, here are a smattering of people that Inspire Me :)

                                                             Pablo Picasso

                                                             William Shakespeare

                                                   His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

                                                            Katherine of Aragon

                                                              Queen Elizabeth I

                                                                    The Beatles


:)
Lynnie

G and H are for *Good Heavens!*

Sometimes life goes by a little too fast for me to blog:

   Deepest apologies for missing Saturday's entry, I was baby-sitting until after midnight and unable to get online. So, I am combining Saturday's *G* entry with tonight's *H* entry.


   Good Heavens, but life is awfully......mind-boggling....awesomely so.....

    Today, I had jury duty. The last time that this happened was 8 years ago, in 2004. During the copious amounts of downtime in between selection processes, I couldn't help but think about how different my life is now and all the changes that have taken place in these eight intervening years.

   In September of 2004, I was 21. I was single (fairly newly so), had graduated that May,and I was living in Rochester, NY, (but still legally residing in Syracuse, hence the Onondaga County Jury Summons).I was working primarily for a Rochester-based children's theatre, but was also working at Panera Bread Company to fill in the income gaps. I shared a house with a friend in the South Wedge Neighborhood of Rochester, a few blocks up from Highland Park. I drove a bitchy, temperamental Dodge Neon and was nursing a crush on a gentleman who, though we were certainly good friends, I had convinced myself didn't have the time of day for me romantically. This, however, was not the case, as I would find out in a few months.....My goal at the time was to build up my savings and my resume and move to New York City as soon as possible.

   Fast forward 8 years:
 

   I stayed in Rochester for five more years after that. During those years, I taught English as a Second Language, was a Nanny, went to Graduate School, got a Master's in Children's Theatre, worked for several excellent theatres, made many wonderful friends, lost a few of them, (though found some of them again) had several health scares, was in a very serious, committed relationship for five years, and grew in a multitude of ways that really can't be described in a blog post. After finishing my Master's , I moved home in August of 2009, ostensibly to rebuild my finances and regroup for life's next challenge.

   I have yet to make it to New York City, I mean, I've been there many times to visit, but I don't live there, yet, for a variety of reasons ranging from Grad School to lack of funds to the Recession to the ebb and flow of romantic relationships to my basically constant tendency to put everything I want on hold so that the needs and wants of others can be met first. It's still on the list. We'll see how the next year or two go....

   I still live in Syracuse, I am engaged to an indescribably wonderful man whom I adore and that I hope one day to deserve. We have a cozy apartment in a Syracuse suburb. I am an Actor and Teaching Artist for The Syracuse Shakespeare Festival and have also recently been voted onto their Production Board. I still need a *day job* to fill in the cracks, but this day job pays well, offers me very good health insurance and flex time, and is full of wonderful people, and I'm very grateful for it.

   I am getting married in about five and half months. I will turn 30 this year. Virtually everyone I know in my age bracket is getting married, having children, buying a house, and moving from menial side-jobs into careers. I am at-once the same person I always was and completely different. My world is changing, bigger and bigger changes that come at an ever increasing speed. It's not that I mind, exactly, I like Change, the world only spins forward and all that.....

  But......just....wow....I.....it all just kind of hit me today........

  Not sure how to end this post. Sometimes you're just too stunned by life to be coherent, and that's about all I've got for tonight.

'Night, All :)
Lynn

F is for Feast

Feast: THAT is what I did tonight :)

   One of my dearest surrogate families generously invited me to their Passover Seder. After the ceremonial portion of the meal, we FEASTED on Stuffed Cabbage, Matzoh Ball Soup, Roast Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Applesauce, Strawberries and CHOCOLATE TRIFLE!!!! OM NOM NOM!!!

Sorry so short, but I'm so full and so happy, that's about all I've got, I'm gonna flop into bed now, Goodnight :)

Happy Pesach/Blessed Good Friday :)
Lynnie

E is for *Effort*

Gonna sneak this short post in right under the wire!


  Today ended my loosely timed around Lent wheat-fast. Though not exactly for religious reasons (more like a self-discipline exercise), I timed the fast around Lent to help me focus. Here's how it fell out:

  -For the first three weeks of Lent, I did a full cold-turkey wheat-free fast, and, while it was occasionally a logistical pain in the ass, I did not suffer emotionally from it. I was fine without wheat. I missed it, but did not suffer in it's absence.

  -Around the three week mark, I started getting more headaches, mood swings and energy crashes. Around that time I also joined Weight Watchers, and juggling points and avoiding wheat and dealing with the above mentioned side-effects got to be too much, so I modified the fast to accommodate one serving of wheat per day, and did pretty well with that.

  So, not the exact results I was hoping for, but I did my very best and I'm pleased with the effort I made.

  And now, off to bed!

  xoxo
  Lynnie

D is for *Dolmas*

                          These little babies are, hands down, one of my very favorite foods :)


   Cool, creamy, tangy, dense but oddly refreshing, herbaceous, just little bit odd and exotic, and SO ADDICTIVE!!!!

  I am forever indebted to my friend Joey who introduced me to these during undergrad. I devour Dolmas with absolute abandon, and crave them at basically any moment of any day ;)

   Here's a recipe for Dolmas from Budget Bytes

   And another from Ellie Says Opa ( the recipe is at the bottom, scroll all the way down)

   And here's one more from The Kitchn


   If you live in the Rochester area, head out to Brockport, NY to Mythos Cafe for some of the best Dolmas (and Gyro!) I've ever had!!!

   In the CNY area? Hit up King Davids, Byblos or The Black Olive for more Dolma Deliciousness :)

*NOM!!!*
Happy Wednesday!
Lynnie




 

C is for *Chiropractor*

Hello There ;)

   Day 3 of the A-Z Blogging Challenge! This has actually been really fun so far, ;) I know the title for today's post topic sounds a little boring, but I promise it is not.

   Yesterday was my first ever visit to a Chiropractor. I've been meaning to go for, literally, years, but such obstacles as no health insurance or health insurance that would not cover chiropractic care, lack of time and not knowing a reputable Chiropractor got in the way. Now, finally, I actually have really good health insurance, and I have been led to a wonderful Chiropractor who is a friend of a friend. While I didn't actually receive any adjustments yesterday (my first one is tomorrow), I had a full workup with medical history and x-rays and got to have good, lengthy conversations about chiropractic care with both the Nurse and the Doctor.

 Okay, now that the setup is over, I can get to the blog-worthy part. Everyone knows the spine/spinal cord  is important, of course; it's what sends the messages from the brain to the rest of your body. However, I didn't realize how much the health of your back/spine could affect health in the other areas of your body that, on the surface, have nothing to do with your spine.


 Let me see if I can explain this without butchering it too badly (if there are any chiropractors reading this, I apologize for any inconsistencies). If some event or repeated events (car accident, bad fall, repeated bad posture, etc) throws something out of alignment in your spine, this obviously causes pain (although, interestingly, I learned yesterday that only about 10% of the nerves in your body are devoted to pain response, so by the time something *hurts* the damage causing the pain has been going for quite awhile). However, pain is only one part of it. This misalignment or *subluxation*, (there's a fancy science word for ya) in your spine effects how the messages get sent from your spinal cord to the rest of your body, so all kinds of nervous system signals to the rest of your body could be getting missed or screwed up.

   Take me, for example. I sought out chiropractic care because of migraines, neck shoulder tension headaches, neck/shoulder/upper back pain, and sinus issues. However, I also have (controlled) acid reflux. Most of these issues developed during my undergrad years, and have peaked and valleyed ever since. It came up in my medical history that I've been in several car accidents (none of which were my fault), and taken several bad falls (no broken bones, though) What can I say? I'm clumsy. But, when asked to ponder the onset of each of the symptoms/health issues I listed above in relation to when these accidents or falls occurred, it was like a light-bulb went on in my head. When I was a senior in high-school I fell down the stairs and slipped and fell in the bathtub (on two separate occasions, not on the same day), and within a year or so of that I developed migraines. Within two years of being in a nine-car pileup accident, I developed sinus issues and acid reflux. Last winter I fell and hit my head and I've had neck tension headaches ever since. I don't know why I never linked these things together before. Probably because none of these occurrences presented any immediate, obvious injuries, so I sort of just wrote them off. Obviously not realizing that just because it *didn't hurt* at the time, that didn't mean that something wasn't thrown out of whack and could cause other problems down the line.

  When I took Yoga, I had a teacher that constantly stressed the importance of keeping your back healthy. If your back is healthy and happy, YOU are healthy and happy, and while I certainly listened and understood what she meant, after yesterday I think I've taken it to heart in a new way. The idea that the headaches, sinus pain and tension could be alleviated through better back/spine care is absolutely  music to my ears. I don't remember a day when my head didn't hurt at least a little, and getting on a regimen that someday might leave me virtually pain free is a challenge I am happy to accept :)

  So, I guess it was Science Day today here, I hope this post wasn't a drag to read. I'll let you know how my first adjustment goes tomorrow :)

Happy Tuesday ;)
Lynnie

B is for *Book Club*

Hey Ho ;)


  I can't tell you how happy I am that *B* Day of the A-Z Blogging Challenge fell on a Book Club Day, because I've been aching to babble about Book Club on this blog (alliteration ftw!!!).

  Started about a year and a half ago by my wonderful friend Merlyn (go check out her blogs, she is a Bard of incomparable skill!!!), I've had the privilege of belonging to this Book Club for about 14 months now :) Unlike most Book Clubs, where the the focus is on novels, ours is a StoryBook Club :) We focus on Fairy and Folk Tales from all over World!!! Sometimes there is a specific story to read, and other times there is an overarching theme within which we are free to do our own research. Once a month we meet to discuss the theme/story of that month, and we FEAST upon all kinds of food that is themed to our topic of that particular month :)

                   Here is the Spread from our *Legend of Sleepy Hollow" Meeting last October

We call ourselves *Storycologists* :) Two of my favorite things about this book club are the creative outlet it provides and the fact that it brings together some of the most creative, kind and hilarious people I know, people who's company I don't get to enjoy nearly often enough because we are so far flung. Having Book Club as a bonding agent has been glorious and I'm so grateful to be a part of it!  Here are all the topics that we have covered so far :)


-Hansel and Gretel
-Little Red Riding Hood & The Snow Queen
-Baba Yaga (my first meeting!) (Russian Folktale)
-Finn McCool (Celtic Folktale)
-Beatrix Potter
-Fairies
-Dragons
-Vampires
-Werewolves
-Frankenstein
-The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
-Zombies
-The Golum (East European Jewish Folklore)
-Trolls
-Damsels in Distress
-Banshees (Celtic Folklore)

-and this month's theme? The Velveteen Rabbit ;) (One of my very favorites since childhood:)

Can't Wait!!!

I hope something makes you smile today ;)
Lynn

A is for *Acquaintance*

Hi Friends!

Welcome to my first post for The A-Z Blogging Challenge!!! I'm really hoping that joining this challenge will lead me to some great new blogs and hopefully lead some new people to my little blog. So, on the idea that there may be some new people poking around, here are a few Random Facts about me that will help us get Acquainted :)

So, without further ado (yay! another *A* word!)

Lynn in Ten Random Facts:

- The first musical I ever saw was Peter Pan when I was about four years old.

- In the years I spent as a Nanny/ Daycare Teacher, I stopped four children from choking.

- My favorite category of Dessert is Ice Cream, and within that category, my two favorite desserts are Gelato and Chocolate Ice Cream Sodas.

- I spoke in full sentences at 13 months and I could read before I turned three years old.

- I am deathly afraid of roller-coasters and other amusement park rides of that type, the ones that use sharp turns, sudden drops, etc.

- There are eight books that never leave my nightstand (as in, they never make it back onto the shelf because I read them so much): *The Complete Works of William Shakespeare*, *The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales*, *The Six Wives of Henry VIII* by Alison Weir, *The Historian* by Elizabeth Kostova, *The Essential Shakespeare Handbook* by Leslie Dunton Downer and Alan Riding, *To Kill a Mockingbird* by Harper Lee, *Green Chic* by Christie Matheson and *French Women Don't Get Fat* by Mireille Guiliano.

- I read cookbooks like novels, there is always a stack of them at my bedside (and several bookshelves worth, too!).

- I love to wear corsets and I feel much more comfortable and beautiful in period costumes/garb than I have ever felt in modern day dress.

- I could live on crusty bread, artisanal cheese and fresh fruit ;)

- Some of my favorite sounds are Moving Water (waves, streams, waterfalls, rain, etc), Wind through Leaves, Crackling Fire, Gentle Whispers and the Sound of Bells (Wind Chimes, Church Bells, etc).

So, that's me, the Appetizer course :) Stick around for the next 26 days and you'll learn more, and in alphabetical order ;)

Love,
Lynn