Possible reasons that I may go days without posting:

1. I can?t reach over the cooler of beer to the keyboard.

2. I would totally post something profound, replete with references to Proust and Apuleius, if only I could pull the night mask from my eyes and throw back the covers.

3. Over the course of six days I drove round-trip to Boston (260 miles) THREE. SEPARATE. TIMES, got my hair cut short (eek! I did not ask for this and it is freaking me out), landed a new part-time job that starts tomorrow (holy shit! teaching writing and composition at a most wonderful art college) and had two magical visitors from blogland come and stay with us at Soliden over the weekend.

What?s your guess?

Meanwhile, I have been tagged, meme?d, and otherwise hog-tied by this ever loving Internet and yet, tomorrow I head back down to Boston, again.

What?s a girl to do? Since Otter and Wee are just getting back to their lovely abodes as I type and I need their permission to post some photos?it?ll probably be later in the week before I?ll share the deets on the STOCHASTIC! time that was the weekend.

Right now, I?ll try and get the meme and tag wrapped up so people don?t think I am more of a slacker than they already do.

It was so odd?last week I was surfing and stopped in at Kateri?s site. She was posting with reference to a ?thinking blogger? meme and sharing some of her favorite sites. Then, without warning, I was tout a fait boulverse to find myself reading one of the most kind, complimentary, and generous descriptions of bluepoppy I could ever hope to receive. It was such an out-of-body experience since I am a most inconsistent reader and surfer and blogger (SEE ABOVE: slacker) and it was pure chance I came across something that I will always treasure.

As a recipient of this gift, it is incumbent upon me to share five ?thinker blogs? with you. However, if you go and read Kateri?s post (and you should because she links to wonderful sites and writes so beautifully and is most assuredly?wait for it, THOUGHTFUL) you will see I can never do such a good job. I am way too flaky and, worse, don?t do much thinking in blogland. However, as I do tend to seek out ideas and original thought and expression as I surf?I will share some sites I visit regularly that may not be on your radar.

FIFI LAPIN
I was lucky enough to find this site via Claire (my English twin, we shall someday be reunited). If I was fully evolved into my true self?this would be my site (that, or I would?ve been a sketch writer and performer for Saturday Night Live?you know, both likely possibilities).

Honestly, I think it is utterly brilliant. It takes everything I hold most dear: whimsy, silliness, and personal flair and wraps it up into a designer ensemble?does it get any better than this?

LUX LOTUS
You might think I visit Lauren just so I can hear her call us ?doves.? You wouldn?t be far off the mark. It is her voice and style that keeps me checking in regularly. It is also the fact that she is always tuned into what is happening in NYC and I love knowing that someone out there is living the high life?the life of culture and art and writing and poetry readings and cafes and oh, let?s be honest, I HATE her.

(Full disclosure: I have met Lauren and she is fantastically smart, charming and chic. Therefore my passionate emotional response above is fully understandable.)

THE SARTORIALIST
(I wouldn?t have included this one here as I have linked to it before, but when I mentioned it to Otter this weekend she didn?t know it. Sure, she?s gonna say ?oh I?m a new mother and suffering sleep deprivation? or some such lame excuse, but I?m not buying. I mean, what ELSE would you surf on if you were up at 3 am and breast-feeding? Wouldn?t looking at really cool people all over the world dress in unique ways be just what you wanted to see as you sat in your nightgown open to your belly?)

Did I just get lost in a tangent BEFORE I even began writing?! Things are getting worse for me than I thought.

Anyway, why do I love this site? Two reasons. One, I love that it grew out of someone?s passion--his genuine passion-- and it is now a glamorous, full-time gig and he is living the life of his dreams. Two, some of the shots are so great I print them out and stick them on my bulletin board for inspiration. Now, how else would I get a candid snapshot of some cute guy from Sweden or some terrifically chic woman crossing the street in Madrid?

Oh sure?at my post office. Right. But you know, I don?t get up there too often . . .

ART ESPRIT
Susan has a gallery on the NH seacoast that could rival any in SoHo. I kid you not. Her blog is great because I love the diverse artists (as well as the diversity of the art) that she brings in. She is a wonderful resource for discovering new creative inspiration.

And, she happens to be one of those incredibly generous spirited souls that I feel so lucky to have connected with.

(NOTE to my future composition students: See how I end my sentence with a preposition? Don?t do that.)

(NOTE to self: Damn, I am gonna smoke those college kids!)

(NOTE to my future composition students:
P.S. Um, stop reading this blog effective immediately)

FUTURE.ME
I use this site probably 2 or 3 times a year to incredible effect. The first time I ever did it I sent myself a birthday message and it was awesome. Then, when I was at the most pinch-y, painful point of the corporate life and knew I had to get out but didn?t know how it would ever happen, I sent myself a message and by the time I got it, I was on a new path.

And, Saturday morning, the day after I got word that I would be teaching writing at an art college (I have to keep writing it out so I can believe that it is really happening), an email popped into my box that I had written last June when I was in a very frustrated place and did not know how I was going to shift things around and lo, what I wrote to myself had come true! Uncanny. It?s crazy fun?give it a whirl.

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