Courtenay Brown

I took this photo early yesterday morning, just after taking off from BWI. I looked out the window and the sky was two levels of lava somehow, and I must finally be thinking like a photographer because I grabbed my camera. A thirty second delay and I would have missed it, because just like that, the sky was a normal looking blue.

Half an hour of posing, my mom alternating between exasperation at my brother's nose-picking, googley-eyeing, and other antics, and exasperation at her inability to work her (ahem) highly complex and difficult and multi-buttoned Sony Cybershot, and this is the 2006 Sarah-Than-Courtenay-Christmas Tree portrait!JK. We did miraculously get some decent shots where all of my mom's gorgeous offspring are smiling AND looking at the camera with their eyes open. But I like this one. Sums up the photo session pretty well.

Sal: All these cereal boxes are full. No one is eating any cereal!!Me: No one's eating cereal because there's no milk, Ma.Sal: Well, there's a CAR! Me: -silence because I know she is right-I definitely could have gone to buy milk, there is a High's just down the road, I could have gotten my lazy butt into the car to go buy milk... so to compensate, while my mom went to the store and bought milk and other food and drink items, I spent the morning cleaning the house. And, BONUS, I won the designation of Most Helpful Of My Mom's Kids since my brother is still asleep and my sister is ...

Last night, I went with my mom Sal, her brother Larry, Larry's wife Kathy, and their 32 year-old son John (so, to recap, with my mom and uncle and aunt and cousin) to Annapolis to see the Good Deale Bluegrass Band. It was fun, I like bluegrass. And, impressively, none of the over-60s in the group fell asleep!I am going to try to convey to you how hilarious my cousin John is. I am going to fail. Without John, I don't think most of us would be as happy to attend family gatherings, because without him they just would not be as fun. I think he loves the family gatherings because there is so much fodder for jokes, ...

My mom, Sal, is a multi-tasker. Especially during the holidays, when she is host to approximately one thousand people... at least that's how it seems.Additional pertinent fact about my mom: she has several pet peeves, depending on which room in the house you are occupying. For example, in the bathroom it's not wiping the sink, in the hallway it's turning the thermostat above 58 degrees without explicit permission, in the living room it's leaving the lights on (or off, still haven't figured out which is supposed to happen when), and in the kitchen is the most important pet peeve of all. Don't, do NOT, never ever ever, stand in front of the fridge with the door open while ...

In the category of For-A-Smart-Girl-She-Sure-Does-Some-Dumb-Things:I rode my bike in the rain and sub-50 degree gloominess for 3.25 hours yesterday. During this time I saw exactly ZERO other cyclists, unless you count 2 Cal students riding across campus at 5:15 p.m., their jeans and sweatshirts visibly soaked and faces visibly miserable. Can't say my face was much better, I'm sure. And I can't say I have ever been out on my bike in the Bay Area and not seen a single other soul out there training too. But the thought of sitting on the trainer in my kitchen for that same amount of time was just awful. For one thing, the linoleum is just way too ugly ...

A few days ago, I blogged about the XLR8R magazine year-end issue, in which fixed gear bikes were listed amongst the year's worst style trends.I have a much better worst style trend to propose. Those fuzzy pompom boots that chicks wear. For me, their ridiculosity was confirmed when I was in Honolulu last month and, in 80 degree weather, when the sun was out, walking down Waikiki, I saw a girl in a miniskirt, tank top, and pompom upper-calf height boots. The fuzzy boot part was silly enough given the weather. But the pompoms? All that was missing was a teeny chihuahua to bounce around ...

I have identified myself using a small variety of words up to this point in my life. Girl, student, dj, waitress, horseback rider, bored boring admin, recreational but hopeful bike racer, and snob. I think that about covers it. And I still adhere to some of these identities, for example girl and snob.Anyway.Suddenly, somehow, I realize that I now identify myself as an Athlete. This identity has developed only over the last couple of months, during which time I have completed some of my most intense workouts ever on the bike, I have begun running again, and I have put my body through the proverbial wringer at the gym. What's come out of this, what I ...

Let me preface this whole thing by saying my mom, Sal, is an amazing person. She is smart, she takes care of the whole family and the whole of Cumberstone Rd. and South Anne Arundel County, and she has endured my obnoxiousity for the last 28 years so that pretty much makes her a saint.But DAMN she can be something else sometimes...I was in a fragile state this weekend. Having not cried for a month or so, and having been brought to tears circumstancially and nostalgically on Saturday morning, I spent the remainder of the weekend either on the verge of or immersed in tears. When one of the immersed-in periods hit on Sunday morning before ...

I subscribe to the music magazine XLR8R, a mostly-electronica-focused publication based in San Francisco. I like it. The most recent issue is a 2006 summary issue, which is cool because it restates all the best music of the year, much of which I missed due to some subscription confusion and way too many races.Anyway there are also some worst-of lists. Including a Worst Style Trends list, on pg. 49... Amongst the items: "TRACK BIKES Hipsters and their brake-less bikes. Don't judge me 'cause I use brakes and don't have tattoos."Being a tattoed track bike owner and rider, I could find this statement offensive and elitist in its own way. Instead I just find ...