from Russia with love

i can't believe we've been home more than a week from our week in Moscow. i tried out yahoo! photos to post some of our pictures. you can view them by lookng at my album

Lee Gribbens & Ron White

i had a fun saturday. we went to emmaus to eat at Lee Gribbens on Main. we spent the week with Manny, one of the co-owners so we wanted to eat there. the food was some of the best i've eaten in the valley. we shared and order of manny's fries and then kelvin had soup and i had an amazing salad. it was mixed greens with green apple and blue cheese dressing with a little blue cheese on top. for my main course i had the chicken marsala which came with sweet snow peas and triple mashed potatoes. it was amazingly good, and although i was stuffed, manny brought us a chocolate lava cake which we forced down.

we left there and got to Reading, PA just in time for the Ron White show. it was pouring rain, but we found a metered parking spot right by the theatre. i love ron. he appeals to my white trash side, and i laughed so hard my face hurt.

i'm a mutant

i went to the eye doctor today for the first time in a long time. i love the reaction when they start looking in my left eye and find my coloboma. this doctor was so interested he took digital pictures of the inside of my eye and gave me a copy. so i share it with you:


Coloboma is a Greek word, which means mutilation. People with Coloboma are missing a portion of the structure of the eye. The human eye develops between the fourth and fifteenth week of pregnancy. As the eye starts to develop, a gap opens on the underside of each eye bud. This gap provides a way for the developing eye to be nourished. This gap, called the optic fissure, has to close before the eye is fully developed. Coloboma is the incomplete closer of the optic fissure. Gaps can occur in the eyelid, iris, ciliary body, lens, retina, macula, choroid and optic disc. It can cause from mild to sever vision loss. Coloboma occurs in about 1 in 10,000 births.

52 Cupcakes: Dark Dark Chocolate Holiday Mini-Cupcakes with Peppermint Bark Frosting...Yummie!

my friend c sent this to me today... doesn't it sound like a great way to spend a saturday morning?

52 Cupcakes: Dark Dark Chocolate Holiday Mini-Cupcakes with Peppermint Bark Frosting...Yummie!

wonder if i can coat my chocolate kelvin in pepermint bark frosting... i'll not blog about that though.

first flurries

as i was walking back to the library a few minutes ago classes were changing and flurries were scattering all over the quad. it reminded me that i forgot to mention that we got our first flurries yesterday morning. they were big flakes but of course they didn't do anything buy flutter around before melting a foot or so above the ground. it was nice to see real signs of winter though; i thought it would never get cold.

i've come to realize that dealing with the cold is all about the scarf. all those years living in the south we always used scarfs as added color to drape under the collar of a coat, and i didn't fully come to appreciate scarfs until i cut my hair off-- when you're necks cold there is no warming up.

december already?

weeks keep passing me by, and i haven't kept up as i would like. i did get the tree up last weekend after our quick thanksgiving trip to detroit. this weekend i finally made it to the moravian bookshop and bought what i would consider my first official christmas present of the season. we'll be spending the holiday here with the fury kids, and i seem to have a hard time buying presents when i won't actually see the rest of the family on christmas. of course, this year, we'll see my family soon after for c's big day.

just to sit on my couch with the dog

it's been a wild travel month which is precisely why instead of cleaning my skanky house i'm sitting on the couch with braut pressed as close to me as he can get. i packed a suitcase and drug it to Nanny's funeral in Nederland, Texas then to Dallas for Educause and finally to John and Fallon's wedding in Playa del Carmen, Mexico (there are some pics in my flickr acct). i was home four whole nights before i left for Portland, Oregon. all such different experiences, but it's been a great month. i feel recharged and ready to accomplish things.

do you realize christmas is only about two months away? the thought of buying presents makes my anxiety level rise. why is that? i love buying things for people, but it's the decision making process that kills me. i did decide that i'm putting up our tree this year. i think we'll be here for christmas alone so it'll be entertaining to watch harriett climb the tree in search for all things shiny and ribbon.

lazy wednesday

it's been a lazy wednesday. the big storm last night destroyed the mail server at work and also left the campus without power. so it's like a snow day today, but without snow. it is pretty hot though so the kids and i have been chillin' with the a/c on. god knows what our electric bill may look like this month.

i keep telling myself i should work on some things, but just sitting her playing my DS and watching stupid television is good enough for me. speaking of DS, have i mentioned how addicted i am to this game Animal Crossing? it's nice to have a game to play that's fun and at the same time doesn't cause my blood pressure to boil or foul things to spew out of my mouth. i'm in the eighth world on the new mario brothers and it just makes me anxious to play it now; time limits, fire pits, dive bombing buzzards... who needs them?

so i'll continue holding down my end of the couch a bit longer i guess.

crossed off the list

I didn't realize until after my last post that i've completed or are in the process of completing some things on my list. number six obviously occurred (see 'first fruits'). we also got a second one on sunday that we ate with our dinner. feels so rewarding; and totally worth the 97 cents i paid for the seeds.

i also completed number seven. i just need to hang the new toilet paper holder and we're back in business completely. i probably should take some photos, but it's just a nice green color. my friend kelly helped me paint it. of course, if you talk to her she'll say she only held the paint and told me stories. i can't wait for her to get a place in NYC that i can crash at and also help her paint should she be allowed to do that.

and number nine should be done tonight. we're going bowling for rebecca's 30th birthday. i of course hurt my back sunday so i'm not sure how able i will be, but i'm going to try. enough beer and motrin and i'm sure i won't feel a thing...

First fruits

We ate the first zucchini out of our yard last night. It was so pretty, and tasty. The yellow squash are slower to produce, but hopefully before too long we'll have some of those.

I feel so domestic. Last weekend we busted it getting the yard looking nice. Then while k was gone I cleaned and painted our bathroom, started sanding my breakfast table that's been out on the porch since we moved here, and bought comfy chairs for the back porch. Braut and I have enjoyed them.

I think this weekend is time to rest.

mulching

i don't think in explain to you how sore and sunburned i am today. i had 5 yards of mulch and 2 yards of topsoil delivered on friday that kelvin, zach and i spread yesterday. i also weeded, trimmed bushes and trees and watered grass seed we planted. i hurt today, but i have a fine looking yard.
i can't believe we were in Detrioit and Flint a week ago. we had a great time, and got to see tim, katie, tracy and brent and meet bella for the first time.

maradee called last night. it was great to catch up. now if only i won't be so lame and keep up better with people. i guess i get too caught up in life (and playing my new nintendo ds). maybe one of my goals should be to slow down and do more fostering of relationships and doing fun things. so a few goals for the rest of the summer:

1. buy a bike and ride it at least twice a week
2. save the princess on the new super mario brothers :)
3. send cards to at least: kl, jz, ar, sd, sw, mk, nanny
4. make a tie-back for the curtain on the front window
5. dust the shelves in foyer
6. eat squash from my mini-garden
7. paint my bathroom
8. cook something new from my weight watchers cookbook
9. go bowling with rebecca and paul
10. call one person each week who i don't talk to on a regular basis

we'll see how i do...

Sunny D

those of you who know me best probably are aware of my bitter hatred for all that is SunnyD. i know kids love it, but not this kid. makes me almost as physically ill as hawaiian punch. i try to be nice about it and not bad mouth the product but i'm putting that behind me as i find their newest commercial unbearable.

in the commercial, their new orange blends pour out of the glass two tone. little orange, little red, little orange, etc. what is that? no drink pours out two tone. with the execption of Sheridan's coffee flavored liquor that does indeed pour out as both light and dark out of two different spouts.

so i blame sunnyD for preventing kids from living in reality.

Fresh start

I love how I really stick to things :) I'm sure everyone's been clamoring for an update but unwilling to say it.

Things are going well. I can't believe it's summer again. How quickly time goes by. Here's the run down of the summer so far:

• Working.
• Went to Tampa with Kelvin to see Stacy. Got sunburned but it was totally worth it. I finally see why people love the beach; it's all about the cabana.
  
• Planted things in our yard. Currently trying to keep them all alive. I have a pot full of basil and no idea what to do with it. The squash put out it's first bloom yesterday so I'm hopeful.
  
• Created a website for my friend Michele who makes beaded jewelry. Check out CreatedbyChel.com; she has some great stuff.
  
• My friends Tim & Katie and Ken & Sue had babies. That isn't exactly of my efforts, but it's been part of the summer in a removed sort of way.
  
• Kelvin took me to Toronto for a surprise birthday weekend. Part of the surprise was also a Duncan Sheik concert in Waterloo. It was amazing.
  
• Finished a big CD project at work. Excited to see that done.
• Went to see Duncan Sheik a second time in two weeks with my friend Carrie. We're also working on her website so keep checking back there.
  

We have plans to see the in-laws for the 4th... Braut's excited at the prospect of a road trip. We also have our friend Kelly's grad party. Should be an entertaining weekend regardless.

i love days at work where things are relatively quiet and low stress. i snuck out of the house this morning with mom, dad and cara sleeping. braut was being a whiny baby but other than that, things were quiet. we spent yesterday in NYC walking and looking. i always feel like there is way too much to do and too much to cover in a single day. i think i have kelvin talked into getting tickets for a show sometime this summer. i'd like to do that more. we have such easy access to that area and i don't feel like we take enough advantage.

i guess i should get back to work on the workshop for friday... rss feeds... fun stuff.

long time

I guess it's time to step things up. I have no excuses; I'm just lazy. I have posted a few thing to Soapbox lately, but nothing juicy.

The family is coming up this weekend and I'm taking a few days off to hang with them. Excited about that. We'll go to the city Monday and explore a bit.

Spring is here so I lack focus. Too bad we don't close down for the spring and summer.

my Soapbox blog

I know I've been slacking posting things so in the interim you can always check out my blog on Soapbox: https://ww2.lafayette.edu/~soapbox/blog/6

the whore nbc has become

i'll be the first to admit i love television. as a matter of fact, some of my fondest childhood memories are of muppets and carol burnet. however, tonight i am saddened that my beloved nbc has officially become a whore. i like las vegas because it has the same feel of the loveboat as they bring on random guests for appearances. tonight, we were enjoying wolfgang puck and the us snowboarding team when all of a sudden my tv watching experience turned into ad porn.

cinemedia or some such non-sense was an extended orgy, i mean ad, of the winter olympics and chevrolet. it was absolutely ridiculous and i feel dirty now.

catching up

i know i haven't posted much lately. it seems i'm in a recovery mode after finishing all the courses. i'm spending the day in a social software workshop so i hope i'll be inspired an catch everyone up soon.

tv snob

i'm becoming one of those people who watches stupid programs on tv just because they're in high def. kelvin and i got our christmas present this weekend.... a 50" plasma. it's beautiful. so now i'm watching Barry Mantilow concerts and educational programming about tazmanian devils. the cool thing is that i can do that and see their individual nose hairs if i want.

it's probably a good thing i'm not working from home any more. i would never leave the living room.

christmas list

I am having a terrible time with christmas this year. i don't know what i should get for anyone, and i've not had much luck coming up with a list for myself.

i did think of a few things though (links are mostly for illustration. if you're buying these things, find the best deal (except don't skimp on the llbean tote ;) ):
1. memory stick 1g (i think kelvin might get me thing)
2. a llbean tote. open top, preferably large with long handles. i'm not picky on the color. monogramed would be cool but not necessary.
3. an oxo salad spinner. the small one is fine.
4. this one is really random... Enesco collectible company has a line called 'Heartwood Creek by Jim Shore". They have an angel figurine that has a nativity scene carved and painted on her dress, and she's holding a north star. i think the sku is JIMS-4003273. I just saw this at the mall a few weeks ago and it really jumped out at me. i think it's prettier in person than the photos online.
5. a cheaper option than the one above is the Star With Nativity - Heartwood Creek by Jim Shore Ornament.