Mood: Good, with reservations.
Music: None.
Mind: Migraine is gone. Makes thinking a little easier.

I've hit the mother lode of interesting news sites, so I've been having trouble stopping myself from inundating #arsclan with needless links.

I'd bother Rompy, but corporate life has made him distant. I do hope I wasn't that way last summer when he wasn't working and I had the big corporate job.

I guess it doesn't really matter too much, as I hadn't talked to him in months, and had pretty much resigned myself to letting him live his life and finding happiness. Paul and I talked at length about it, because it troubled me that I was upset over my friendship with a man. I felt guilty because I was engaged. I approached Paul and told him that this was the lowest point I'd ever been in my life. I was having trouble choosing bridesmaids and really felt more comfortable around the myriad of male friends he and I had made over the years, primarily in college.

It bothered me because I figured couples were supposed to have couple friends. And he assured me that he trusted me. I'd never hurt him, I'd never leave him. It was soon a moot point because Rompy was off chasing rainbows, and things slowly got back to normal. It was the lowest point I'd been in my life. Between my stint on the copy desk, Paul's long research hours and feeling so helpless, I was really crutching on the antidepressants. Andy -- the other intern -- was a godsend. He's in Fort Wayne now, and I wish him the best. (see below)

ANDY GAMMILL --->> I WISH YOU THE BEST.

Now. What was I saying? Oh right. I guess I started taking Romp with a grain of salt because Paul made me realize that once the important things are in place, everything else will work out. And things are better. In fact, I feel pretty good, and it'll hopefully get better from here. We'll see.

By the way, check out this link: http://www.likeanorb.com/wtc/. Voted Best of the Web. Reading the signs, really studying everything, made me weep for the first time in a long time. I'll never forget that day, how my staff pulled together and everything. That's for another day.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Mood: Better! :)
Music: The Smiffenpoofs
Mind: Mmmm ... coffee.

I haven't posted in more than a month, so I guess I can finally tell you that the wedding went off without a hitch, and we had a really good time in Disnet World.

If you'd like an excuse, I have a migraine. I mean, I haven't had a migraine for the last month, but I have one today. So that's my excuse.

I've been busy with gifts and thank you notes. We received so many wonderful gifts (so many, in fact, that I'm having trouble finding a place for them all), and I like writing special notes to each person to show them how appreciative I am. Paul has helped me some, so it hasn't been too bad, and overall, the married life is pretty darn cool.

At some point in the future, I'm going to make the following improvements to KatesInk:
1. Scan the wedding pictures I like;
2. Write about our honeymoon in Disney World;
3. Post our wedding announcement from the C.A.;
4. Tell you about our upcoming Ars meet in St. Louis (huzzah!)

But today, I'm going to tell you why every woman needs four coffee makers. Lemme go pour a cappuccino first ...

Okay. Now that I'm settled, I'll tell you how I came about owning four coffee makers.

I've always been a big coffee fan. So two years ago, during a Day after Thanksgiving sale, I just couldn't pass up a cappuccino/espresso maker for $20. What a deal! I bought two, and gave one away as a gift. The other one I tucked up into the top of my closet for a rainy day because I was living with my parents who had a very nice 12-cup-industrial-mug sized drip coffeemaker that worked just fine for when I needed my fix.

Then, a few months ago, somebody was giving away an (industrial sized) percolater, and Mom snagged it for me.

For Christmas last year, I was given a one-cup manual coffee press and milk frother set by my cousin and his wife.

And then, Mom gave me a four-cup mini drip coffeemaker at a shower in May.

I brought the one-cup press, the four-cup drip, and the cappuccino/espresso maker with me to the apartment. I simply did not have room for the percolater.

The entire top half of my small-apartment-sized pantry was taken up by coffeemakers. This was a smidge of a problem because I'd switched to a nice tea ketter and some expensive tea mixes -- oolongs and herbals and greens, oh my! I had a nice teapot that made perfect cups of tea, especially under the watchful eye of my darling husband.

I did open the four cup drip, but for the sole purpose of teaching Paul how to make tea in a coffee pot. It's the lazy man's way, but it saves a lot of time. When my imported loose tea came in two weeks ago, I opened up the coffee press, and taught him how to press tea one cup at a time.

And then fate struck. I stopped in the Godiva store to pick up some chocolates for our three-week wedding anniversary, and ended up getting some Godiva French Vanilla and Creme Brulee coffee packs. I'm the only one in the family who drinks coffee and tea, so this was a real indulgence just for me. I felt naughty.

So I used the drip maker and brewed a pot of Creme Brulee. Suddenly, everything was right with the world. I'd forgotten how some french roasted arabica can make everything right with the world. This cup of coffee was better than antidepressants. It was ... heaven.

And then, when Paul left for work today, I got adventurous and made me a cappuccino. Can't believe I waited two years to give this a go. It makes perfect froth -- I chose a fat free vanilla flavored rice milk -- and a delicious brew.

So why does a woman -- why does anyone -- need four coffeemakers?

Because there are times when you want to do it by hand and times when you'd rather leave it up to a machine. Times when you want to make a little, and times when you want to make a lot. Morning moments when you just need a cup of joe, after dinner moments when you indulge in a cappuccino, and late night study moments when nothing cures you like a double espresso, straight and thick.

But most of all, on those days when an herbal tea is about as effective as a silent alarm clock, I've got four pieces of equipment that make me feel special.

I think I'll take a bubble bath and try to shake this migraine.

Pics of the wedding to come. :)