For visual reference: Meiko

Thoughts on Jewel and Meiko

So, last night my sister and I went to Durham to hear an acoustic Jewel concert. Upfront, I'll say that I looooved Jewel's album, Pieces of You, when I was in high school. It was the soundtrack to my life, I'd say, for a couple of years there. After that CD, though, something changed with Jewel, and probably something changed with me, and I didn't like her new stuff. This concert was billed as an acoustic, mostly old song kind of show. So, I was super stoked to hear all those old songs that I love.

I was disappointed, but it isn't Jewel's fault. It was certainly unfair of me to hold an artist to something she did 15 years ago. She has grown and changed, just as I have. Unfortunately, the things that I loved about her aren't the same. I loved her simplicity, and her honesty, and the raw emotion that came out of her effortlessly. I loved her soulfulness. I loved that she always came across as a little nervous and a little insecure. She isn't so simple today. There seemed to be a lot more flourish to everything she did. The songs didn't seem as honest now, but she is 15 years removed from the events that caused her to write them. There were a couple of moments where the emotion came through, but even when it did, I felt that it was a little forced. Soulfulness seemed to be replaced with watered down commercialism. She wasn't at all nervous or insecure...in fact, I was pretty sure that she thought she was the best singer of all time. And all that is fine. People love Jewel, and she is certainly allowed to do whatever she wants. But, it just doesn't jive with me as well now.

But, the night was not a waste. I discovered Meiko.



She did seem to have all those things I loved about Jewel back in the day. She was honest, soulful, humble, simple, and clean sounding. She was also nervous and charming and precious. I'm pretty sure I'll be a fan for life. I met her after the show, and I told her that I enjoyed her more than Jewel. She thought that was a bizarre thing for me to say...as Jewel is a big star and what not. But I didn't believe Jewel anymore, and I totally believed Meiko. I wanted to hang out with Meiko. I wanted to buy her a glass of wine, and bury her in compliments.

I didn't even want to meet Jewel. So, I guess the point here is people change...I change, Jewel changes. I'll keep listening to my old Pieces of You CD, but I'm buying Meiko's CD too. I probably won't buy anymore Jewel CDs, but she'll always remind me of who I was in high school.

So, Meiko, if you should ever read this, know that you are awesome. And that you shouldn't be quite so nervous or scared, because you're adorable and talented. I expect for you to be huge.

And Jewel, if you should ever read this, we had a great run, some real good times. I'm glad that you have been able to grow so much musically, and explore all sorts of different music. The world is better for it, but I just can't personally get into it.

The beginning of our obesity problem:

1985

Eerie Commercial

AT&T commercial from the early 90's:

Dude! We can totally do these things!!

I realize that I haven't blogged in a million years. I didn't even talk about how much fun I had at the beach, or Oktoberfest or anything. Sorry about that.

Life is good. I'm happy, but busy. I'm back to subbing all the time, so life feels busier. We bought an awesome camera that will help our lives a lot. That has been terribly exciting. Soon, I'll show you pictures I took. Honestly, I didn't use the new camera, and I won't very often. I'm using Jon's awesome Canon 40D, because now he has a better 5D. But, I've never used a camera as swell as the 40D. So, I'm a happy girl.

Also, I'm sharing music I dig with you. :) More soon.

There is much love for you, my dear readers.

Carmen, what are you up to?

I get asked that a lot, and my friend Liz told me my blog has been a big boo lately, so I'm going to answer the question here. Mostly, I'm up to all the same stuff, but with a shift of focus.

I'm doing the trivia. You guys know that...its Monday at 6:30 at Buffalo Wild Wings and Thursday at 8 at Beef O' Brady's. That's going really well, and it helps to keep me busy. And let's face it: I love the attention.

I'm working with Jon. His business is taking off, and he's rising to the challenge beautifully. It turns out, in regards to his business, there is LOTS for me to do, so I do it the best I can. You can see the stuff we've worked on lately at www.joneckard.com. This is where the focus shift comes in...this is getting a lot more focus, which is translating to dollars, which is a good thing. So, yay!

I've got my hands dirty at the Art Museum still. I'm working on a project that I can't share quite yet, but it is huge, and will be smoking hot awesome. And-they're opening the newly renovated auditorium in the Salt Block building, and I can harly breathe, I'm so excited.

Speaking of so excited: People! Where the Wild Things Are is opening on October 16th. And there are previews all over the TV. That means for about a minute of every hour that I watch TV, I'm holding my breath at the beauty of that movie. It brings little tear drops every time I see the preview.

Here is where I ask for your help: If you hear some people talking about how they need a photographer, why don't you tell them about us? We need clients, so it would be a perfect situation!

Also, something that is irritating me: People complain all the time about how we're losing so many jobs in our country. I know. It sucks. But those same people shop at Wal-mart and buy mostly products made in China or Indonesia. If we want to have an economy, and have jobs for Americans, at some point we're going to have to start buying mostly American goods. We are the consumers, and we have the power. Am I wrong here?

In other news...I added my favorite music to my sidebar, so that if you're bored, you can hear some beauty.

Sorry that there are no links. I'm on an older computer right now, that won't let me switch to Compose mode, and I don't want to code a million links in HTML.

But: Art Museum-www.hickorymuseumofart.org
Trivia-www.triviawithcarmen.com
Photography-www.joneckard.com, www.jeckard.com, www.hickorybrides.com

And, one of my favorites-www.peopleofwalmart.com.

Am I a "Bleeding Liberal"?

I don't really think so. I've been accused of such here lately. I don't think that I am a bleeding liberal just because I believe that quality health care should be available to all Americans, not just fortunate Americans.

I'm not trying to be radical here. We are a blessed nation, but the gap between rich and poor is nauseating. I believe that we, as fortunate people, have the responsibility to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves.

The way things are is bad. It's very precarious. What if you lose your job, like thousands of others, and therefore your health insurance? So, you try to get more, but you can't afford it because you lost your job. Well, then, what if you break your leg? You're out at least  a grand for an emergency room visit. What if you get Cancer? You're screwed, you know?

I'm going to tell you a true story about one of my best friends. He was 22. Now, I honestly can't name a single 22 year old boy that has health insurance. You're kicked off your parents at 21, and most fellows aren't quite responsible enough, or well off enough, to buy insurance until at least 25. He woke up in the hospital one day. He had an aneurism, and thank God he lived, but he was saddled with HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars in debt. How is a 22 year old supposed to face the rest of life, and have any shot at succeeding, with that kind of debt?

We trust our government to educate our children. People, they could be teaching them anything in there, and you wouldn't know. But you trust them, for the most part. And if you don't trust them, that's fine. You can home school, or put them in a private school. But, and this is a big but...there are controls. Education is regulated so that no child, in theory, can grow up in the US without an education. (Those controls aren't failproof, and we all know that. Determined people can get around most anything.)    If we didn't have public schools and regulations, what would our education look like? Like Ancient Rome, where only the rich could go to school?  We would have a country full of ignorant poor folk, and arrogant, rich, self important people. Why can we not trust the same government to help with this health system fiasco? It is very similar. If you don't want to be part of it...you wouldn't have to. You can keep your insurance. You're unharmed. Except that now your insurance can't drop you if you get sick. And now, there are all sorts of safeguards.

Why should anyone who lives here and contributes to society have to choose between food and important medicine? Did you know that every year, 700,000 people file bankruptcy  every year because of medical bills? In France, Italy, Germany, Japan and Canada, o people file bankrupt because of medical bills. The US has one of the worst infant mortality rates of all the industrialized nations...6.8 deaths per 1000 births. Sweden has 2.4.  So even though we pay out the nose, our care is worse. It's because it is so unregulated. The system is a big mess, and there isn't one cause, but it has to be fixed.

In a discussion, a friend told a story of how she was in a room with a big group of women and their children, and the children were filthy, and the mothers were trashy, and she was upset that she worked to pay taxes to help them. I totally understand that. I really do. It is frustrating. But, are we supposed to just let those kids fall through the cracks? Because if we don't help them, they will grow to be nothing more than an even bigger strain on the system. If there weren't insurance available to those mothers, those children would likely die at very young ages, due to lack of nutrition, immunizations and total lack of education on their mother's parts. So as annoying as it is to pay for those children, is  it better to just let those children suffer? I think, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

We all  pay taxes here. I guess at the bottom of it all is this...some people want a government that is as uninvolved as possible. I'm not that person. I think our government should exist to help us.

I voted for change. Maybe that in and of itself is enough to qualify me as a bleeding liberal.

Facebook buddies...if I could remember how to not have this blog entry forward to facebook, I would. I don't want to stir this issue anymore between you folks. But I wanted to get it all off my chest. Let's keep it clean in the comments.

One more thing. I've heard a lot of people say "Why does everyone care that someone shouted "You Lie" when people talked bad about Bush all the time?"  Let me break it down. People can say any fool thing about any fool person they like. We have that right. But when you sign on as a Congressman...an elected position that is revered and esteemed...you lose that right. Well, not even that. Congressmen can even say whatever they want for all I care. But they can't yell it out on a highly anticipated and publicized Joint Congress Session. There are rules to that sort of public life, and that was clearly against the rules. I don't care what he thinks about Obama. There is still a certain amount of respect that one must give the office of President. This is not the same as an Iraqi throwing a shoe at the President, even if that is a terrible insult in Iraqi culture. An Iraqi is not obligated to respect our President. A Congressman is.

Fin.

Wow. Congressmen are so Mature and Kind.

This is ridiculous. I'm speechless about it now. See Biden in the background, just shaking his head? I'm embarrassed that this guy is from the South.

Check out the looks from these 3 the second after it happens:

Obama's Speech

Why were people so upset about this? I don't get it.

**My blog posts to my Facebook account, and when this posted, people had lots to say. I thought the different viewpoints were interesting, so I'm sharing a few here: (Commenters 1,2,4 and 6 are teachers.)


XXX

I wish I knew! Most of the parents that didn't want their child to listen to our President will let their five year old watch R-rated flicks while in their care. It is completely ridiculous.

about an hour ago · Delete

xxxx

supposedly (I say that because I have never seen confirmation for or against) this is a revised speech, and people were upset over the first one......I am disappointed with the study guide that came out from the whitehouse....it was supposedly (again non-confirmed) done by teaching fellows, so it should have been of much better quality then it was.......

about an hour ago · Delete

xxxxx

It was not about the President addressing the students. Presidents in the past have done this (although George HW Bush was tarred for it by Richard Andrew "Dick" Gephardt the Democrat House Majority Leader. The issue with O'bama arose with the after speech assignments that was leaked. Some of the assignments would have the students write an essay ... Read Moreon what they could do to help the president pass his agenda. No matter what your political views, or who is the President, that would cross the line. As always though our memories only last as long as the current administration.

about an hour ago · Delete

xxxxx

well, that explains the lousy lessons that were slapped up by the whitehouse.gov website.........

about an hour ago · Delete

xxxxx

The big deal is this: This president has pushed and pushed things through that have been detrimental to the economy despite warnings, and he is trying to push ths health care thing through, not listening to the majority of Americans. He has some really marxist smelling ideas as well as friends. People have a hard time allowing their children to listen to someone they do not trust. Too bad it would be the President of the United States... Listen.

about an hour ago · Delete

Four years ago it was "Un-American" to question the President. Now the current President can't even make a speech without this hyped up controversy. Detrimental to the economy? Where is your proof? Marxist? Are you serious, or just drinking the FOX Cool-Aid? Remember wire-tapping and torture? That's what sounds un-American to me. I have 3 children ... Read Moreand was glad for them to hear the speech today. It's completely irrational to believe that Obama did anything today except give a pep talk. I also think the comments made here about helping to "pass his agenda" are exaggerated. And regardless, none of those lesson plans were mandatory. No GOOD teacher would put a political spin on anything he or she assigned regardless of personal politics.

26 minutes ago · Delete

Me

Or, see it here, with any additional comments. You'll have to have a facebook account.

The Shining...an uplifting, feel good movie!

Why we need HEALTH REFORM

Our latest wedding

I think this one is the best we've done. Jon took all but say 6 of these, but I helped! I swear!

Click here to see the splendor!

Being Happy

One leg of this whole being happy journey I've been going on involves reconnecting with nature.

I was born in 1981, and electronics have pretty much surrounded me my whole life. When I was a kid, there were some woods behind my house, and I loved those woods. I would play in the woods for hours, all the time, and I was truly happy. When I was 11, we moved from that house, and I had no woods at my disposal until recently. Sad days. I didn't realize during this time how much I needed the beauty of the woods, and I drifted further and further from the person I am, and my place in this Universe. So, things went badly.

I am very fortunate in that my husband's family has a beautiful spot in the mountains. There is a house, with a hottub, but the best part is the 14 acres of mountain woods. That I can play in. Whenever I want. Without anyone else coming...that's the key. I could have gone to parks all this time, but I don't want strangers intruding on my play time.

We spent last weekend there. I recentered more powerfully than I ever have before. I could feel happiness rolling off of me in waves. The more I looked, really looked, at all the beauty around me, the more unavoidable the happy was. So, here I stand, centered and blissfully happy.

Jon and I went treasure hunting. It started out innocently, as we were walking and happened upon these beautiful mushrooms:

The purple one fascinated me so much because it was so so slimy. Later, I found a purple one the size of my hand, pristine and just oozing with slime. I dropped it when I tripped on a root, and it broke. It was the only sad moment of the weekend.

So then, I was fascinated by everything I found. It was ridiculous. We found these treasures next.

First, the deer skull, with one antler. The other side of the antler was on the ground next to it, chewed by some small hungry animal. Then, there is that crazy fungus guy...it's purple, and looked like no mushroom I've ever noticed before. We found several turkey feathers, and saw 7 wild turkeys each morning when we woke up. There is a tom, with 6 hens...lovely. The white mushroom was so perfectly formed I had to pick it. I also found a blue stick. I was totally confused about why the stick would be blue, hanging out in the woods, but 2 days later, I figured it out. I found a half blue stick, with tiny blue fungi growing all over it, and where there was fungi, the wood turned bright blue. And then my favorite thing:

I love this piece of wood. It was from a fallen tree. The tree was huge and old, and had supported so many tiny animals in it's life. So, the tree falls and this piece of wood breaks off. So, you would think that was the end of the road for the tree, right? But nature is awesome. Turns out that a slowly rotting piece of dead tree is the perfect host for this fungus. Which is so pretty! I don't know what it is, but it just represented how everything works together for me. I thought, while I looked at that, of one of the pieces of very old advice in a post I wrote earlier. If you haven't read that, go read it now, then come back. Specifically, this piece of wood reminded me "You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should." And people, that is such a good good thought to me.

I'd end this post with that thought, but I have more treasures to show you. After I found all the beautiful mushrooms, I decided to make a tiny mushroom garden for Jon to photograph. So I spent a completely silly amount of time. creating my garden. I think it was worth the time. Do you agree?

My drinking glasses are Smurf glasses, covered in mushrooms...I couldn't shake the thought as we were doing this that it would be the perfect place to catch a little Smurf. Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I enjoyed finding the treasures in them!

Last Weekend, Part 1

Jon and I played in the woods like we were little kids. It was beautiful, blissful, fabulous, etcetera. We found lots of treasures, and I got possessed to build a little mushroom forest. Then this caterpillar showed up. I have lots of pictures to share of the whole extravaganza, and I'll post them so soon. Wouldn't that picture be the best place to live if you were a tiny fairy?

Be my fan, please!!!

Trying out this fan page thing on Facebook. I'd feel better if you were a fan. I'll make it easy:

Trivia with Carmen on Facebook

And while you're at it:

Jon Eckard Photography on Facebook

Yogurt. God bless it.

A couple of months ago, my mother-in-law gave me an old yogurt maker she had. At that point, I'd been buying Greek yogurt at the store, and it was expensive. But it is so luxurious. Thick, creamy, and perfectly tart. It is wonderful with fruit, granola, honey...you name it. It's also good in a wrap with peanut butter and honey. You can use it as a substitute for sour cream. To do that, you just let it drain in a coffee filter for a few hours. If you hang it in cheesecloth and hang it for a few days, it makes a yogurt "cheese" that you can use in dips and even cheesecakes. You can add garlic and herbs and have salad dressing or dip. And, today I'm making my first frozen yogurt.

But I digress from my point.

I started making yogurt with this maker. It's easy, and I save a lot of money. And for breakfast, there is always fresh yogurt, with blueberries or some other fruit. It's perfect for Jon and my skittish tummies.

I'm going to tell you how to make it. And don't worry...you don't have to have a maker. Let's talk about that part first. The main goal is to find a spot where you can keep the mixture at about 110°-115° undisturbed for 6-8 hours. Options include:

1: A heating pad. You can put your mixture, covered, in a cooler with a heating pad on top of the mixture.

2: A dehydrator. I doubt you have one...I do, but it is mostly a waste of space. I'm currently trying my first batch in it. Seems simple enough...you put the container in the dehydrator on high.

3: A yogurt maker, following their directions.

4: Hot water: You'll need a thermometer. Place the cooler or pot in a place where it will be undisturbed. Place the jar with the yogurt milk in the cooler. Now fill the cooler with water that is 120°. Place a couple of fluffy towels over the cooler or pot.

OK-let's talk about our mixture.

First, take 4 cups of milk. I use whole organic milk. Heat it, boil it about a second, then stir a lot as it cools down. Homemade yogurt will be runnier than you are used to, unless you add 3/4 or so of powdered milk. Aldi's has my favorite, so far. You can skip it, but you will either have runny yogurt, or you can put it in a coffee filter for a few hours to drain and thicken it.

First variation, coming your way...if you're doing plain yogurt, skip this part. If you want sweet yogurt, add about half a cup, maybe a little less, to this hot milk. And some vanilla. Stir it every once and a while, until it hits about 120°.

Now, you're going to add culture. Yogurt is a bunch of live cultures, so you have to have starter, which is just yogurt. Once you've been making it, you just use some from the last batch, but you'll have to buy some to start. I like the Greek versions. Oikos, Chobani and Fage are good. You don't want flavored yogurt, or sweetened...and make sure it says "contains live cultures" on the package.

You're going to mix in 2 big heaping spoonfulls. It is best to take the yogurt, and a little of your milk mixture and put them in a jar and shake shake shake. Add that to your milk mixture and stir. Put it in a jar, or whatever sort of container you're going to incubate.

After that, 6-8 hours in a warm spot. To check and see if the yogurt is done, tip the jar slightly and see if the milk flows or stays put. Remember that the yogurt will thicken even more as it cools in the fridge. If you see clear whey when you tilt the jar, the yogurt is as done as it's going to get. Save some at the end, so you can make your next batch.

I forgot to mention fruit...most people add things like fruit or syrups at the end. I like to put blueberries on the bottom of the cups before I make it. I find it gives the blueberries a really delicious, hard to explain flavor. When you buy fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt at the store, they put a fruit syrup in the cup before they incubated the yogurt.

If you make any, let me know what you think. Any questions? I'll answer them the best I can.

Oh-I also forgot to mention probiotics. Anytime you take antibiotics, you need to take probiotics afterwards. The pills kill all the bacteria...good and bad. There are lots of little tiny guys in our bodies that need to be there...they help us digest, and help our bodies work in lots of ways. But, after your dose, they're all dead. You can go to the Vitamin Shoppe or GNC and get some in pill form, but yogurt is a wonderful natural way to do it. So, after a bout of antibiotics, make you a big batch of yogurt, and eat up. Your body will be happier.

Weddings and the 80's

This is our latest wedding. It was a very fun experience all around, and I think Jon and I are really getting the hang of working together. It's nice when it flows, and usually, it flows.

In other news...on Saturday night, I'll be hosting karaoke at a very awesome 80's party that you can come to. It's at Beef O' Brady's around 9:30, $5 at the door. But the best part: you HAVE TO BE IN COSTUME. Which means everyone there is singing and drinking and all dressed up, which is typically hilarious. So, get a costume, bring $5, and party like it's 1987.

Trivia Rundown

For anyone who is interested, here is my schedule, with brief summaries.

Monday Nights: 7:30 at Buffalo Wild Wings...this game is called 7 on the 7s. There are 7 rounds of 7 questions, with a bonus question at the end, and the questions are shown on the televisions. I also read them out loud. With this game, I have a little more freedom, because of the technology. Prizes are 100 free wings for 1st place and 50 wings for 2nd and 3rd. We give a bucket each round for the high scorer. It has a t-shirt or hat, BBQ sauce, some sort of glass, and some other doo dad. On the first Monday of the month, prizes are $50, $25 and $25 in cash.

Wednesday Nights: 8:00 at Beef O' Brady's...this game is Trivia with Carmen. It has 5 rounds of 11 questions, plus a final round. Rounds are themed: Music, Movies, Sports, Current Events, and one random round a night. Prizes are $15 gift certificate for 1st place, $10 for 2nd and $5 for 3rd, plus winners are pictured on the website http://www.triviawithcarmen.com.

Thursday Nights: 8:00 at Beef O' Brady's...this game is Pop Poker. Each team is given 5 playing cards. There are 4 rounds of 8 questions, and they are all pop culture related. If a team gets half the questions right, they can return a card and draw another. If they get the most right in the round, they get a wild card. After 4 rounds, the highest poker hand wins. First place gets a $15 gift certificate, and second gets $10. Afterwards, we have karaoke, and the most entertaining performance gets a $5 gift certificate.


I love it when my friends, or people who just read my blog, come to my games. I hope I'll see you there!

*All locations in Hickory, North Carolina.

Mutant Corn

I shucked this corn and found a teeny tiny baby corn in there. The baby corn was delicious, but the big one wasn't very good at all. I thought it was interesting enough to share. That is all.

Weddings and Trivia

So, Jon and I just got back from a real whirlwind of a weekend. We shot a wedding in Charlotte, and it was actually very fun, although terribly exhausting. I took the picture above, and I was impressed, so I'm sharing with you! Also, we went to Ikea!!! I'd been waiting for months. It was overwhelming, and hard to manuever, but pretty everywhere you looked. Once we get the pictures finished, I'll post a link.

Also-geez-I forgot to mention...

I'm hosting trivia at Buffalo Wild Wings! Yes, BWW, the biggest and busiest hang out spot in town. Monday nights at 7, starting tomorrow.

We are so fortunate to make all of our money doing jobs that we love, and created for ourselves. We are blessed.

Also, working this wedding with Jon was smoother than ever. We are starting to read each other better than I ever thought possible. I love my husband more and more every day. And, btw, we're getting so much closer to being able to have a tiny Eckard around. I'm so excited about that.

Matt kept Bertha while we had the wedding. Bertha LOVES Matt. He's part of her pack, because he hangs out with us all the time. She has a special whine she saves just for when he comes over and doesn't pet her fast enough. This was the first time I've ever picked her up that I didn't think she was totally desperate for me. She was pretty content with her Matt, who takes her every where and spoils her as much as we do. She's a happy dog. Thanks Matt!