#julietslife

[petitjulienne-blog]

#sculpture #artlover #followme #followmylife #julietslife #Barcelona (presso Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya)

[finallychelle]

The Only Thing Annie Loved More About Canada...

...than Juliet (julietslife) and Renee (ficklechick)-- was poutine gravy. In fact she brought home a suitcase full of it. (In packages, so that it wouldn't leak out through the zippers.) And I have to admit that it is pretty durn good. That's why we've got beef cube steak simmering in poutine gravy for dinner. I'm going to let it cook until the beef starts to fall apart-- which will be tough to do-- because the house smells pretty fantastic, right now. The extra gravy will be drizzled over some steamed fresh broccoli. My favorite thing about poutine gravy is that one package easily makes enough to smother two pounds of cube steak-- yet the entire package has only 160 calories. If you're a sodium nazi, however, you should walk on by because each package also contains 4,000 mg of sodium (500/mg per serving). Calorie Count: Beef Cube Steak (8 oz)- 453 Fresh Broccoli (2 cups, steamed)- 72 Poutine Gravy (1/2 cup)- 50 Total Calories: 575 (Protein- 78g, Fat- 20g, Carb- 19g, Sodium- 1121mg) We've got plenty-- so if you're in the neighborhood, stop on by. -canadiangravybecausemycanadianvajayjayishomesickchelle

[finallychelle]

Guess Who's Confidently Wearing Pants/Slacks (circle one) Today...

...without worrying about how they fit you-know-where? And guess who looks really good in those pants/slacks? -durn.youguessed.chelle

[finallychelle]

A Post Explaining Annie's And My Relationship

As I reconnect with people from my past virtually none of them have trouble with the fact that I’m a woman and they knew me as a man.

People have been incredibly kind and accepting, appropriately curious, and wonderfully supportive.

I continue to be shocked by the fact that I’ve had nearly 100% acceptance.

I suppose it helps that I grew up in NY and folks, there, tend to be fairly liberal.

What I find funny, however, is that virtually every one of them scratches their head over the fact that Annie and I are two straight women who happen to be in a same-sex relationship.

I tell them that, “The short answer is that we don’t understand it, either. All we know is that we love each other completely and don’t want to be with anyone else. You can’t help who you love in this world. And if something happened to one of us the other person would almost certainly end up with a man. Life is complicated.”

Lots of women have girlfriends that they can only take in measured doses. But many also have that one girlfriend that they’re so compatible with that no matter how much time they spend together it’s still hard to say goodbye— even until tomorrow.

It’s a very small leap, from that point, to a place where you both decide that you don’t ever want to say, “Goodbye”— so you decide not to.

Annie fell in love with someone she thought was a man— a man unusually in tune with women’s feelings, but a man, nonetheless.

And after finding out that I was a woman she decided that she loved me so much that the gift wrapping didn’t matter.

And we became those girlfriends who didn’t ever want to say, “Goodbye,” to each other.

When you love someone, completely, the rules suddenly don’t matter.

Then the labels stop mattering, as well.

Even though we don’t consider ourselves to be lesbians we know that the label gets applied to us— and if that helps people categorize us and get more comfortable with our relationship then that’s fine.

At the end of the day all that matters is that I get to cuddle on the couch with my favorite human being on the planet.

And we give each other simultaneous foot rubs as we watch tv with our legs intertwined.

And we sneak looks at each other— even after all these years.

Relationships are complicated— but love doesn’t have to be.

That’s the sentence that probably best describes us.

-loveshouldbepureandsimplechelle

[finallychelle]

I've gotten about 50 new followers since my surgery-- many of them thanks to lastoneinthepool (thanks, Jen!), ficklechick (thanks, Renee!) and julietslife (thanks, Juliet!).

Even though this post isn't very old, I'm reblogging it so that the new folks understand our hard-to-categorize relationship.

If you're a longtime reader feel free to skip this one!

-Chelle

[thenovelme]

The People Behind

     I cherish each and every one of you every day.  You know that.  However, there are a few that have earned a special place in my heart by talking, interacting, and sharing their lives with me.  I am not going to mention all of you for this piece, but you should know who you are.

     Three of the people I cherish are Rachel, Kris, and Julie.  Each in their own way is spectacular.  Rachel is one of the funniest, self-deprecating, individuals every single day.  Kris, like Fred, is so honest, so forthright, so sexy that she has attracted tons of followers.  Julie, aka Juliet, is one of the happiest, joyful, and kindest people I have ever met.  And I want to meet all three of them, spend long hours talking and bullshitting, and then hug them before they leave.

     But, I also want to meet their significant others.  I have talked with Julie's husband a few times, and I have liked him, but not in real life.  And I do not think I have ever spoken with either Kris's boyfriend, or Craig, Rachel's husband.

     The reason I say that I want to meet them is because each of those women are fantastic in their own way, and it makes me wonder what kind of man, what kind of person does it take to have these women love them so.

     I cherish the women but, even more, I cherish what it would take to be a man to keep those wonderful women by their sides.

[finallychelle]

¡¡¡Apricot Alert!!! ¡¡¡Apricot Alert!!!

Rick and Mindy are bringing a fresh apricot with them-- Erin "Apricot"! Montreal will never be the same! They'll have to write it off as a total loss and start fresh. -blessedbeyondherwildestdreamschelle

[finallychelle]

This Will Make You Cry

While it's wonderful to have online friends, it's even more wonderful when they become real life friends. Julie and Renée are two of many examples I could give. Not only did they come to our wedding-- they're both going to be in Montreal for my surgery to support Annie and me, too. A 6 hour drive. From Toronto. I know, right? But wait-- there's more...! Rick and Mindy, who have become such a huge part of our lives, and who we've spent lots of time with when we lived in Utah, are going to be in Montreal for us, too. They're "second shift" and will overlap with Julie and Renée before they leave. Rick and Mindy had to get passports before they could come see us. And they're driving-- are you ready for this?-- 35 hours to be with us. 35 hours. 35 hours. 35 hours. Each way. From Utah to Montreal. (I think they're barely even in the same hemisphere.) Remember that number. There will be a quiz. If someone told me that two friends would one day drive a 70 hour roundtrip to support me I would have laughed and called you insane. But that's how they are. When Rick lived in Alabama and I was having a bad day, one time, he said, "I can be there in a few hours to cheer you up if you need me." At the time I had thought that THAT was extreme friendship-- but my frame of reference has since been changed by an order of magnitude. I have often said that I've never measured success in life by checking account balances or job titles. Instead I measure success by the relationships in ones life-- who we get to love and who loves us back-- and, by that measure, I'm the richest person on Earth. It's almost embarrassing how rich I am. I actually have to keep Rick and Mindy in separate bank accounts because, together, they exceed the FDIC insurance limit. I keep Mindy in Bank of Zion and Rick in "Bubba's Bank and Tire Center of Montgomery Freaking Alabama." (This month only-- get a free tire rotation when you open a new account.) I can tell you that when the five of us Kik, together, it's pure pandemonium. I'm almost afraid to put everyone in the same place at the same time in real life. -hopestheresnointernationalincidentschelle