Category Archives: Grey Matter

The Stoplight Kiss

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I seem to have great luck with stories about what happens at stop lights. I’ve got another good one for you today.

Yesterday morning, I was driving to work, listening to a sad song and thinking sad thoughts, when I came to a stop light and looked in my rearview mirror.

Behind me was an old beater of a car with duct tape holding the passenger side window together. The couple inside was laughing. It caught my eye because I usually see single-passenger cars full of grumpy commuters in the morning, but here were a man and a woman laughing hysterically.

I kept watching them because they made me smile, and suddenly the man leaned over the center console and kissed the woman. Thoroughly. When he sat back into his seat, they were both still laughing.

I laughed, too. I couldn’t help it. The combination of joy and love and euphoria, despite a morning commute and a crappy car, was enough to slap me out of my self-induced funk. This is why I read romance. This is why I write romance. This is why I believe in the power of love.

So here’s wishing you a good laugh and a great kiss, even if you’re only the witness.

Stuff I’ll Never Wear (Unless my Legs Get Chopped Off in a Horrible Accident and Are Replaced with Rachel Bilson’s Legs)

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I’m somewhere in this weird nether-region between fashionable and unfashionable. I’ve always at least nominally tried to stay on top of things. In high school in the ’90s I did the whole flannel and oversized t-shirt thing. In college, I dressed like a college student: hoodie couture. And then I tried to assemble a fashionable work-appropriate wardrobe for my career-oriented 20s.

The thing is, there have always been items I am completely unwilling to try. Mini skirts were the thing a few years ago. Yeah, I totally skipped those. Skinny jeans are in right now and you will never see my giant thighs walking around in those things. Never. Sweater dresses? Nope. I looked like a puffy teddy bear. And I was ok with just letting those trends pass me by. No problem.

Every now and then, though, there’s a thing that’s in fashion that I really want to do, but just can’t. That whole jeans-tucked-into-tall-boots thing? I bought tall boots. I tucked my jeans into them. I looked semi-ridiculous and very upside-down triangle-y. But I did it anyway.

This summer, it’s maxi dresses.

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Singin’ in the Rain

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I know, I know– it’s the all Princess Ida, all the time channel on the blog this week. But this is all I’m doing and, therefore, everything I have to say is about the show. So deal.

Tonight is preview night– our first show with a real audience! To prepare, our dress rehearsal was last night. There were a few slip-ups, but on the whole, it was a great show, and it’s going to be even better tonight. Evidence:

But the best part of last night? After rehearsal, we were heading out to walk to our cars and opened the stage door to find an absolute downpour. A few minutes of debate later, we decided to run for it. Momentarily it was apparent that running wasn’t going to make us much less wet, so we slowed our pace, sang songs, jumped in puddles, and generally had fun. It was lovely– For once, just for a while, I was not thinking about who likes me or doesn’t like me, how fat I look in this outfit, or whether I was going to stick my foot in my mouth. I was just in the moment, singing and dancing in the rain, smiling like a loon, and letting happy happen.

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