Ipods have great power storage, ImissEthan. Mine lasts for 8 hours, which is generous enough for me. I do keep an extra cable at work, and I take that one with me when I travel. Overall, it's a great thing.

Best of all, I bought these incredibly small speakers and stand to use when I travel. The sound is amazing. And I get to listen to all my playlists. I have about eight, each about five hours long, for all my different moods. Or, I can choose to have a little Bob Dylan concert and just listen to the playlist for one artist. The Ipod is a wonderful thing.

Plus, now you can buy one in pink. I wonder if Mr. Yogi knows?

Thanks for the feedback on my dinner. The food is going to be good, if a bit un fancy. I used Marcella Hazan's recipe for the Minestrone and made lots because this particular recipe can also be used as a base for a fabulous risotto, which I will make next week. I plan out my menu the weekend before, and my buddy's invite just happened to fall on the Minestrone/Eggplant night. Thursdays are my toughest day. I have to take Little Yogi to two different speech therapies and we don't get home until 7 PM, so dinner can't be too complicated. Plus, I tend to be a bit wiped out emotionally after all that. Thank The Immunity Idol for Survivor, that's all I have to say!

Good Gravy Marie, Ricci, 42 Kids on a weekend trip? Yikes! You must be one tough cookie to brave that one in any weather!

Well, Valentine's Day is coming up.

Ahh, great minds think alike, Draadje! ;D

What are you going to hint to the BF to give for Valentine's Day? I also fell in love with a pink pearl necklace with a mother of pearl clasp in the shape of a sea shell. I call it the goddess necklace. It's so pretty but very dear, so in comparision perhaps the pink Ipod will look good? In the end, I'll probably just get a box of fruit rollups or something.

Oh and if anyone has any idea what to give a man for valentine's day, well, I'm all ears. or all eyes.

yogi, if you get the pink one, do I get your old one? The one thing I heard is that the new color ones have less storage. I really don't know how much is "less" but I heard less.

iMissEthan, in terms of storage, were you thinking of the guy who stickered in NYC not to buy iPods because they don't offer replacement batteries? I think I read about in the Voice or something. I think there is some eventual expiration date, but it's far down the road.

Ditto! That is such a great question. I'm glad you asked it. My mind goes blank and I'm already getting frustrated thinking about it. Any suggestions would be super appreciated.

I just checked on the pink one's storage capabilities today, and it's still at eight hours. Plus, it's so pretty! I believe that the battery issue was also addressed. They now offer some sort of more reasonable way to replace. But that is the one bad thing about Apple. They really don't stand behind and replace their defective products like other computer companies do.

Hurray for Tracey Bee and her new iMac. It is indeed a beautiful thing. Have you used the visualizer yet in Itunes? Oh, it makes such pretty pictures!

yogi I've found that men are pretty much happy with anything for Valentine's Day. Back when Mr. Psyche and I were still dating, I got him a cable modem for V-Day. This year, I went to Frederick's of Hollywood and bought something for me to wear for him. Guys tend to like that as well. Just buy him something that he'll like. Or, make him his favorite dinner followed by a couple of his favorite desserts *ahem.*

I got mr. suction a brew club membership to this little brewpub near us. He'll get happy hour prices no matter what time he goes in ($2.75 for Imperial pints, yay!), and invitations to special events like parties, etc. I also made dinner reservations to a fancy-schmancy chef-owned restaurant which has enough emphasis on game and beef so that he'll be happy. Last year I got him a 1/2 lb. box of Frangos and the new Star Wars novel, and we had cheese fondue and loads of white wine. psyche is right - just aim toward a man's interests and feed him, and he's putty in your hands. Just don't get him too likkered up, or he'll really be putty in your hands.

ETA to raise the sleazy double-entendre factor.
ETAA to add sleaze as well.

Oh, what the heck.

We used the visualizer to hypnotize our small children guests at our Halloween party. We just put on curlycue's favorite, Calexico, and went to town. They loved it. Tracy, do you have the one with the articulating arm? My husband calls it "the lamp". I want a girly-pink iPod, too. I still have my girly-pink iMac (but my husband has inherited it).

The Man's Valentine's Gift

It's hot. It's racy. It's... a sports car!

No, I am not independently wealthy. But what you do is call a few high end dealerships. Or write them a letter (but it's probably too late for that). Explain that you have not the inclination or ability to buy one of their fine automobiles, but that it would make your Mr.You's life if he could drive one. Set up a date for 2 or 3 places (if you're going during the work day, they really are a lot less busy, anyway) on the same day.

Then, go to Wal*Mart and buy a matchbox car of each car you arranged to drive. Wrap and present with a "date" card for when your racy date is. The exhilaration no Victoria's Secrets' box can match comes from a man given the chance to drive those loaded men cars (the fast ones, the big ones, the ones loaded with more options than a mile-long buffet table).

The real gift? The ability to talk about when he was driving a [fill in car here] with his friends. Because you know they still play the "Oh, yeah? Well guess what I've done that you haven't" game.

I actually got this idea from a guy who did this for his kid. Make sure you tell them and they know that you really really can't and aren't going to buy a car, or else it may backfire :-)

Hildy what happened to delay your watching Survivor? I noticed you've been MIA for a few days. Hope everything's been good for you.

Yogi I think your menu sounds wonderful and I reckon your British friend will love it. How is your son coming along with the speech therapy? We had many, many sessions with our son, and it did help quite a bit.

Ricci have a wonderful time with your 42 kids! Washington DC is a great place, though I've only ever been there in summer, so I don't know how you will amuse them when it's cold and snowing. And lucky you, the Hilton... so why the rush getting back?

Caltrask have a great time in Florida. And I totally understand about taping the show and watching it, you don't want to take any chances. I do that all the time, tape it but also make sure I watch it if I'm away from home.

*Sigh...5 more days to go.

My poor Mac is in pieces all over the house while Mr. Blevins tries to fix the sound card. I'm jealous of everyone's new iMacs and iPods. I know it's silly to be sentimental about a computer, but I've had it almost longer than I've known Mr. Blevins, and I miss my poor Casper (so named because it was the first computer I had with the solid [white] apple logo rather than the rainbow).

On a different note, last year I got Mr. Blevins theater tickets for Valentine's Day, stuck them inside a folded origami heart and put them next to his dinner plate. Quick, simple, and he loved it. The downside was in order to get the cheap kind I could afford, I had to get them way in advance, and I was worried he'd see the posters and I'd have to steer him away from purchasing the tickets anyway. For once the advertising industry cooperated and didn't push it too much.

This year? No idea. Maybe some computer games or a VCR., but those seem silly. I mean, "here's something to occupy your time so you spend less with me"? Not a great gift.

I don't see why men can't appreciate flowers as well women. Flowers are lovely, lovely things and I adore sending them.
I've written Mr. Hildy a love letter for Valentine's Day, and I've made him shortbread hearts dipped in chocolate, and I've completly forgotten the whole damn day. All of those were fine with him. He's pretty flexible.
On the car thing, I once rented him a Jaguar for the weekend as a birthday present. The problem with that is that I don't know enough about cars to rent the precise kind of vehicle that would appeal to his very particular autophile heart. So we enjoyed it, but I could tell his heart wasn't warmed down to its absolute cockles. So to speak.

Aussiegirl, thanks for asking. I had a bitter cold and just didn't feel up to staying up late for the first Survivor. Plus, life has just been exceedingly hectic around here of late. THings seem to be calming down a little, thank goodness.

Hey psyche! And so glad to "see" you too, Hildy!

Wow!!! You all are so creative. Mr. Yogi loves food, especailly Italian food, being a little Italian-American guy from the Bronx. Unfortunately, he makes all the Italian food in our house. I tend to cook either French, Classic American, and Vegetarian. Maybe I should take him out to dinner...

Last year, I had surgery on Valentine's Day. He sat beside me in pre and post op and held my hand and made me laugh. I have to say, in my life, I have had some fabulously romantic Valentine's Days. I have been known to entertain three different Valentine dates within the course of the day with gifts and food etc. But nothing will ever touch the romance of a man sitting next to you when you are scared and in pain, holding your hand, and telling you that you are the most important person in his life, all the while you look like death warmed over in a cheap blue hospital gown. So this Valentine's Day, I'm going to do something special for him. You all have given me such good ideas. I love the car gift. Fabulously creative. But Mr. Yogi is not into cars at all. He likes food and wine and movies. Maybe a antipasto picnic in front of the DVD with a fabulous Barolo and me wearing something ... uhm, nice?

And really, Hee:


Oh my heck, suctionprints, you are such a thing!!!

By the way, Jennblevins the thought of a computer taken apart in my house gives me hives. The screw on the back of my notebook came loose last week, and I had heart palpatation. Like the guts were going to start spilling out or something. Oh, and I hope Casper pulls through!

Mr. yogi sounds wonderful. I actually got a lump in my throat reading that. I am having major surgery in the spring and I think I may have to show Fang (my hubby) your post. Not that he needs nudging to be a great guy but it's an awfully sweet post.



Video games has always been my fall back gift. The thing is that it helps me out in the long run. When my shows are on, the ones he doesn't like, I just "suggest" that he go play video games. Then he thinks that he has the best wife in the world and we all win. Works like a charm. heh.

Mr. Yogi does sound wonderful. It's funny, for every 10 terrible, immature men, there are a couple that just shine. THankfully, Mr. Psyche is one of those shiny ones (and not just because he tends to have an oily forehead!).

BTW, Yogi thanks for the welcome!

I remember the sweetest V-Day present I ever got was from this guy I dated in High School. I had related him to how my parents were so cheap that while I was growing up, I had to make my own bubble solution from dish soap and never got Crayola crayons, always the k-mart brand. So, for V-Day, he bought me a big thing of bubble solution and a 16-pack of Crayola crayons. I was touched that he remembered something so minor. (Don't tell Mr. Psyche though!)

Hildy I totally agree with you about giving flowers to men. Flowers are such beautiful things and I know that I love receiving them. Sorry to hear about your cold mate, and hope you are feeling better now. Maybe we should all send you some internet flowers - I would if I could figure out how to!

Yogi what you wrote here was just very touching. What a wonderful man.

Psyche - welcome!

I wonder whatever happened to Raen. Where are you Raen? Did the gnomes take you off somewhere?

Happy Thursday, Gang at Meet Market!

Mr. Yogi is definitely a sweetheart! Now I really feel like I better do something nice for him for Valentine's Day! The pressure is on...

I'm off to the Apple Land for my class today, and my schedule is so tight that I have to eat my lunch on the subway, which is not a particularly enjoyable way to have lunch. But anything that keeps me away from the pink Ipod is probably a good thing. And now I want a pink iMac. I didn't know they made them. I can't believe I'm talking about computers and electronics like they are shoes are something! I refused to use a computer until I was halfway through my second master's degree. I used an electronic typewriter with memory, because I felt that computers were going to suck out the soul of humanity. I guess my soul has been sucked, so I need not worry any longer.

By the way, did you know that pink is the hot new color for spring? It's true. And that? Is a good thing!

Yogi, I can assure you, your laptop is not going to start spilling the innards out ... the only thing that came out at all easily on mine is the keyboard. It took six screws being totally removed before the back on Casper even considered thinking about coming off. Why is it just my luck that the part which breaks requires taking every possible part out of the computer, including a number of parts which you have to unhook connectors you can't even see? It is a good thing I have fairly small hands, too.

Yogi, or anyone else rockin' New York City, do you know of any really good seamstresses (tailors?)? My friend & I need the depressing bridesmaids measurements, and the place we are ordering from offers a full sheet for anyone to follow (I swear they measure EVERYTHING). We're all ordering from one shop & I don't know how many bridal boutiques would be willing to measure us since we're not ordering from here.

skagirl, I used to have great seamstress contacts in my old job, but since I'm not there anymore, that's of little use to you. And I think I did read about the battery problem with iPod in the Voice. It was of passing interest to me since I don't own my own computer, so there is no way I could transfer my music to an iPod anyway.

Freaking Apprentice is making me jump through hoops to see it and Survivor this week. The better be a one-time thing, for my sake & Miss Alli's, as well as any other fans of both shows.

Does anyone know anything about Richmond, Va? Mr. Psyche just got offered a promotion there, and the last time I went to Richmond I was still drinking from the little plastic sippy cups. Mr. Psyche really wants to take the job, but I'm a little apprehensive about moving from Dallas to Richmond.

I've never spent time in Richmond (though I will be driving through it next week) so I'm no help. Sorry Psyche! All I know is that (I think) that's cigarette country. I could be wrong though.

Thank you so much iMissEthan. I never would have known about the fucked up scheduling of tonight's Apprentice without your post. Son's of Bitches!!

Skagirl, I don't know about NYC, but I work at a Career and Tech school (what we used to call the votech when I was in HS), and we have a Textiles and Fashion class. I bet if you found a similar place, you might be able to get a student to do it.

Thanks for the advice! Someone recommended a guy I read about months ago that's right in the 'hood. Will give him a call tomorrow.

Psyche, maybe go over to the TWoPcon board and see if there is a Richmond/VA link (I think there is).

Psyche I stayed in Newport News VA and also Richmond and loved it. It was many years ago but there is something quite beautiful about many parts of Virginia. I've also spent a month in Dallas, and while that too was great, I much prefer VA. Why don't you take a little holiday there and get a feel for the place?

Skagirl excuse my ignorance, but what is the TWoPcon board and where can I find it? I would like to find some links.

Hi everyone! thanks for the well-wishing, I'm sure the D.C. trip will be a blast. It is a hoity-toity Model UN thing so the very uptight children will be going and they know better then to mess up their record (for college). I actually go on trips overnight all of the time. My favorite is a 3 day camping trip with a predominately ESL (Spanish-speaking mostly) group in the Spring.

Anyway Yogi, isn't tonight the homemade dinner? I was hoping we could talk about your MA degrees...did you write a thesis either time? I am knee-deep in my doctoral thesis right now and it's sort of sucky. That's really what I am supposed to be doing instead of posting.

Skagirl good luck with the measurements, is the dress nice at least? My friend just told me about having to do the same exact thing - they measure EVERYTHING. Plus, she just had a baby and hopes not to be anywhere near those measurements when the wedding rolls around.

V-day. We are going to NY for the weekend. I usually write a nice letter since my birthday is the week before and I don't want him to go crazy with presents or activities.

Aussigirl, here is the link to the TWoP cons. On the second page there is a link to the Australia con. You can find the thread in the Nuts and Bolts section.

Hello, all. Some long-timers may remember me from the first three Survivor discussions, but I kinda opted out after Africa. Had to come back for All-Stars, though, at least for a bit. Looking forward to it.

Ricci what are you doing your Ph.D in? I too am knee-deep in my doctoral dissertation, mostly spending my time trying to get approvals from various boards and panels at this point.

draadje, the link didn't work, all it did was take me back to the beginning page of TWoP where I had to log in again, and then straight back to this page. Any other info?

Hi jase-bot, and welcome back.

I swear I'll eventually work my way through all 43 pages of this thread, but since it's the Meet Market I wanted to go ahead and say "Howdy!".

I haven't been in here in a million billion trillion years, lol. (And I haven't been on TWoP at all lately.) I'm still probably not going to be very frequent, because ever since the switch-over all of TWoP appears in astoundingly annoying 14-18pt text on my computer, and each page is about 2.5 screens wide. (10 people have tried to fix it for me, and nobody can figure out why it's doing this.) It takes FOREVER to read a single post, which, in a show like this, leaves me lagging way too far behind.

Anyway, just wanted to be all friendly and drop in with this plate o'cookies for y'all, and thank you in advance for the nice welcome to the neighborhood!

Hey, prop chick, welcome. And thanks for the delicious cookies!

AussieGirl, the link to the TWoPcons are almost at the bottom of the drop menu.

Yay! I have a computer again! My laptop, Casper, has a new sound/power board and is no longer in pieces all over the place!

Hey another person blowing off school work for TwoP! Psyche78 I am actually working on my Ed.D and my thesis is on Service-Learning. I am aiming to be COMPLETELY DONE a year from now. We will see....got my proposal back and the mentor is happy. BTW my program is "executive" so I am still taking classes too. I just finished my comps in Oct. Let me know what you are doing...it seems like you are at the end.
OK people, for real I am out of here until Tuesday. Cross your fingers, Hilton or no Hilton, I want to come back on time (school trip).Ciao.

Psyche78 - I'm sitting in my office in downtown Richmond as we speak. Well, as I speak. Well, as I type. I moved here about a year and a half ago for work from NC.

What sort of info do you want about Richmond? I can tell you that they don't really have a pops at the park program, which I lament.

That being said, we're only about an hour and 45 minutes from the Metro stop for DC (very good Saturday trip), only about two hours from the beach (well, traffic can be a bear on any given summer weekend), and we have two amusement parks in easy reach: Paramounts Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens (with a nearby WaterCountry). Good skiing (not Colorado skiing, but good east coast skiing) about 3 or 4 hours away at Winterplace (meh) or Snowshoe (much, much better).

AND... you're only 2 1/2 hours from the Dean Dome and the best college basketball program in the world ever, no matter what actual scores may currently suggest.

Worst thing about Richmond - the Port of Richmond area. It's right next to 95 south of the city and since that's how I drove in my first impression of the town was kinda dirty smoky industrial, and there's also an old quarry that sometimes smells like sulfur when you drive by. Yuck. It doesn't help that this is between my apartment and Kate'sBoy's house. Yuck.

But, seriously, what sorts of information are you looking for?

PropChick have you adjusted the TWoP settings under my control (or the assistant)? The default is like 900 pt font, so you just have to select smaller. It's up in the control panels where your "Logged in as:" is.

Yikes, my friend stayed until 1 AM last night. I love her dearly, but I finally had to tell her I needed to go to bed. I offered her the guest room, though. I'm not completely without heart. I don't know what it is about my house, no one ever wants to leave. Seriously, people come to visit me from out of town, and I live in the heart of NYC for heaven's sake, and all they want to do is sleep, eat my homemade soup, and talk in my meditation room. It's quite odd. But I don't mind as I love my meditation room too, and I also enjoy a good bowl of soup on a cold day.

But the result of all that is that I had to watch Survivor this morning. I'm such a lump. I took the morning off. Isn't that shameful???

I am so glad to hear of Caspar's complete and total recovery!!! Here's wishing you lots of happy cookie making sessions together, jennblevens!

Blessings to Ricci as she braves both the weather and a weekend with the well behaved teen agers. As I recall well, there's a lot of trouble to get into on those trips, but I was always the sort of kid looking for the action (how some things change) so I doubt I wouldn't have been going with the hoity toities. Now if there was a trip for juvenile delenquents, I would have so been invited on that!

I'm a Virginia girl by birth and heritage, Psyche so I must chime in with karatekate that Virginia is definitely God's country. Though I spent more time in the Shenandoah Mountains and Alexandria, I've always found Richmond to be quite nice too. The weather is generally very mild and pleasant, and the people are lovely. There are lots of excellent Universities, so there are always lots of things to see and do not so far away. I would imagine that anyone could be very happy there.

Hey prop chik and jase-bot! I'll have one of those cookies!

I'm glad you found a measurement taking person, skagirl. I go to the local Korean dry cleaners for my hems and stuff, but I would hesitate to recommend him because he is always touching me in ways that make me less than comfortable. He's always moving me around from my butt. Now I realize that my butt is extremely large, but it seems that he could touch my leg to get me to move. I have asked several people if this is perhaps a cultural thing, and if maybe in Asia men tend to put their hands on a woman's butt without it meaning anything, but I've been assured that this is not the case. At this point, I'm so afraid to go back, that I have a large bag of pants needing hemming just sitting near my closet for weeks. Maybe if you come up with a sewing person you could give me their name?

Yogi, I was just coming over to see how your date was. I think time with friends is well worth it, even if you are tired & have to watch Survivor the next morning. Unless the smell. Then I boot them.

Maybe you have an irrestible tush, and that's why he touches it? Or if he's on his knees doing the hemming, that's as far as he reaches? I dunno. Sounds rather exciting to me, but then again, I'm a tad naughty.

It's a monsoon here today. The rain is just not stopping at all!

Ricci, I am working on my Ph.D. in psychology (hence my alias). I'm done with everything except my dissertation, so I will definitely be Dr. Psyche by August (which Mr. Psyche is thrilled about, because he wants to put to work making actual money, not the pittance they call a "stipend.")

karatekate and yogi thanks for the info about Richmond. I guess I wanted to make sure that Richmond isn't some hole where the send people off to sink into. I would be interested in knowing where the "good" parts of the city are (lower crime rate, etc...). We've heard that Chesterfield is nice. Any input?

You are always such a hoot, skagirl! I'm absolutely certain my big ole tush is completely resistable, and I can't understand why a man coming from a country filled with woman with nice small tushes would want to repeatedly put his hands on mine. I think perhaps he has never seen one so big!

It's going to be interesting hearing your Survivor insights, Psyche. Alas, I am unable to give you neighborhood type recommendations for Richmond. My brain has not retained the specifics. It's filled with much more useless and trivial information than that, sadly.

I have another day off from school, this time because of ice. We were off Tuesday, which really should have been a two hour delay, because it wasn't that bad. Because the school districts took some flack for that, today they started with a two hour delay, but then re-evaluated and decided to close. I had the TV on, with it saying they would reevaulate, waiting, because if I was going to work I needed to shower, and if I wasn't, I was going to be doing some sanding (we are painting the kitchen) and it isn't good to sand with wet hair. When they finally made the decision to cancel, I was about to kick back and read Twop, when my husband called because his jeep died on the way to work. I went to pick him up, and the roads were awful. He had gotten the jeep going, so I followed him home. He was going to work from home (he's a computer geek, which dashed all hopes of reading Twop). But then the power went out, so he took my car to work. But the power was out. But now it is back on, and my sanding is done,but the basement is flooding. I think I may go rewatch the episode.

Arrrgh. Son seems to be boycotting nap today. That is NOT ALLOWED in the Hildy household, where one of the chief household Gods is named St. Sealy Duvet.
We've got the lousy weather too, JDG. It snowed about four inches this morning and now seems to be switching over to freezing rain/rain. That ought to make life pleasant. My sister in western Maryland reports that it's equally icky down there, so I suspect we'll have more of this mess tomorrow.
So I wanted to encourage y'all to troop over to the Creative Quests part of the Survivor forum and Play the Survivor game--it's entitled THe Survivor Game Without Pity--Pearl Islands, which is a bit misleading, but then again, we are still in teh Pearl Islands, so technically it's accurate.
Hi and welcome to Jas-Bot and Prop Chick

draadje I found the drop menu but when I click on TWoPcon, it just logs me out and then when I log back in, nothing happens. Oh well, I'll try it again tomorrow, I know TWoP are doing some work on the site, so that may be why.

Yogi I'm not surprised that people love being in your home and with you. You seem like such a warm and fuzzy person, and of course you are, being Yogi and all.

Hildy how old is your non-napping child? My 3 year old tries to boycott his afternoon naps all the time. When he was just a baby, he used to try to keep himself awake by moving his arms, or his legs, anything to not go to sleep and miss out on what was going on.

Little Yogi generally loved nap time. I had his crib all filled with those soft fabric books filled with soft fabric toys, and if he woke up, he would read them all over and over again. Plus, I hung a whole bunch of those button push, twirling wind thingies, and he loved those too. Nap time was a happy time. Now that he is twelve, I frequently wish that we could have nap time again. Lord knows that I need it!

Do you have one child, Aussie Girl? Little Yogi is an only, but my golden retriever thinks that she my daughter. She spent the whole day sitting on top of me today. She refused to eat breakfast until I came downstairs. I've never had a dog that would refuse food, but my silly dog would rather have love than food. On second thought, maybe she isn't that silly.

Looks like we've got bad weather going all the way up the east coast, Hildy and JDG. But at least we didn't loose power like Aussie Girl. Knock Wood.

I went to see Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in Something's Gotta Give tonight. I thought it was excellent. How wonderful to see a woman in her fifties without plastic surgery who still looks beautiful. Diane Keaton should not be allowed to dress herself, though. She makes the strangest choices whenever she makes a public appearance. She seems to have neck issues. But she was lovely and charming in the film. I'm glad she won the Golden Globe.

Try this one AussieGirl.

No Yogi, I have two little Aussies, 11 and 3, and both boys. I wish we hadn't waited so long to have the last one, eight years is a big gap between them, but it took me that long to convince Mr Aussie. I also lost two more from miscarriages. So I am indeed blessed with the two beautiful children that I have. BTW, I love golden retrievers, they are just beautiful.

Caltrask I tried the link you posted, with no success, the same thing happened again - it just logs me out. I seem to have a few probs with TWoP, for instance, I am unable to quote, or it may just be that admin are working on the site.

You know, it's funny, reading everyone's posts you kind of form a mental picture of what they look like, at least I have. For instance, some of you may picture me, being an Aussie, as having blonde hair and blue eyes (when I lived in the US, people used to say "you don't look like an Aussie" to me all the time. I guess they had this idea that all Aussies were blue eyed blondes). Nope. Long black hair, tanned complexion, brown eyes. Does anyone else want to share what they look like? Or maybe where they live - house, apartment, whatever, in the country, in a city, by the beach, or the mountains etc. If not, that's okay too. I'm just curious about this group of friends I have been talking to every day now for the last couple of months!

I don't mind, Aussiegirl. I live in a house that overlooks a small lake. I live with two friends and their mother. I've brown har and brown eyes, but I'm not very tanned.

That sounds so nice, Draadje! You can have your morning coffee over looking a lake. I would love that. On my little trips to California, I drink in every moment of natural beauty I can get. It's so nourishing to the soul.

I live in Manhattan about six blocks from Bloomingdales. Generally, it conveniently located, but when there is icy rain and snow in Manhattan, it miserable to get around wherever you are located. My office is right next to Carnegie Hall on the 55th floor, so I have a nice view of the Hudson River and New Jersey. The Hudson River is frozen right now, a disturbing sight. I try not to look. I am blondish, but I go see William regularly to have my hair browned. I have been darkening my hair since college. I think it's essentially a failed attempt to look smarter or at least less washed out. When I go to California, it only takes three or four days before I look all one color like a boiled potato. I also have blue eyes. And I'm short and fairly "plump", hence an even greater resemblance to a potato. Not an impressive sight, to be sure, but there you have it.

This is the question Aussie Girl - do you have long legs. It seems to me that most all Aussies have long legs. I see you all striding around your big ole country taking very few steps to get from one end to another.

I know I'm new to this thread and it's too soon for people to get a picture of me in their head, but what the hell...

I live about 15 minutes south of Boston. Right now my husband and I are temporarily staying at my parents house while we save money for our own home. It's lovely and we have the bottom floor to ourselves. Complete privacy and we've been here a while so it's very much like having our own apartment. It's actually too comfortable and my mom keeps joking that we are never going to leave. heh. But I work in Boston and have for the last 9 years. I love the city. It's beautiful and full of so many fun things to do. Plus it's loaded with history.

I am about 5'6 and have longish brownish/reddish hair. It's naturally curly but not the good curly kind. You know what I mean? It's more like wavy so I have trouble keeping the curls curly and when I try and wear it straight, one drop of water makes it a big old frizz ball. I've been struggling with this for 33 years!! I also have brown eyes though many people have told me they are black because they are so dark.

I love hearing what everyone looks like and where they live. I would give anything to live somewhere overlooking a lake, like draadje. I love New York so living in the city would be wonderful, like yogi and I would kill to even visit Australia.