homicide

today i was checking out one of my high school alumni websites and i noticed a memorial page. there were only three listed that graduated from the 1990s and only one where i actually recognized the name. derek andrew marston. i didn't really know him at all cause he had graduated the year i moved to berlin. but i knew of him. (i dated his younger brother, kyle, for a few weeks my junior year.) i do remember hearing about his death or that he had died but i didn't know any details. the power of google. i typed in his name and found a few articles about his death. here's a short synopsis of what happened:

National News Briefs; Fugitive in 2 Killings Is Caught in Wilderness
Published: August 6, 1998

The man sought in the killing of two campers last weekend was captured tonight after a six-day search, the authorities said.

The man, James A. Finley Jr., 21, of Hickory, was arrested about 7:30 P.M. near a hunting lodge, Sheriff Jeff Jordan of Montgomery County said. Mr. Finley was armed with a rifle and a handgun when he was confronted by deputies on foot, the authorities said.

The police said Mr. Finley pointed one of the weapons at officers as they approached, prompting one officer to a fire a shot. No one was injured.

The campers, Derek Andrew Marston and Tommi Danielle Byrd, both 24, were found shot and slashed on Sunday at their campsite in Linville Gorge Wilderness Area in western North Carolina.

Mr. Finley was thought to be an admirer of the man charged in the Birmingham, Ala., abortion clinic bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, who has evaded a search in the western North Carolina mountains.

***and what's crazy about the whole thing is where it happened. it's less than 20 miles away. insane.***

simon's got back

this video is too cute. little langei is singing and dancing to "baby got back"

his mom would like everyone to know, he learned it from watching shrek. and not from her. although i will say the moves look quite familiar, but i won't point any fingers.

the tooth diaries

a power chain, an additional metal chain, new arch wires and another rubber band. <-- in case you were wondering what this means, i've included a visual representation.

an unflattering photo, i know. my orthodontist informed me i have less than 6 months left in these bad boys. i will have a definitive answer september 24. september 5 will be my 2 year anniversary. i can hardly believe i've been wearing them this long. i've come a long way, oh yes, a long, straight way.

left incisor is the devil tooth that received the root canal. it only took 20 minutes, i could hardly believe it myself. drilled a hole in the back, scrapped out the pulp and infection, sealed it temporarily up and i was out of there. been nursing it with vicodin and antibiotics since. heading back september 10 to have it permanently sealed and internally bleached. $700 for, perhaps, an hour of work. i'm definitely in the wrong business.

the coat, the coat, the coat is on fire

one of our last evenings in springfield was spent burning aaron's white coat. i think he may have been a little too happy doing so. what do you think?

gettin to the root

tomorrow i'm heading to winston-salem to get a root canal. yes, the trauma my incisor suffered 15 years ago has finally caught up with me. when i got my braces tightened, big understatement, this last time it started to throb. my new orthodontist decided to add a power chain, an additional metal chain, new arch wires and another rubber band. i've got a mouth full of rubber and metal. the consequence...the death of tooth number 9. funny thing, i was worried i the orthodontist in boone wouldn't be able to treat me. apparently damon braces are fairly new and a lot of orthodontists don't use them yet. i lucked out cause the guy in boone travels and lectures on them. so now instead of heading to winston for ortho treatment, i'm heading for endo therapy.

what's in your backyard?

here's a gaggle/flock of wild turkeys taking a stroll up our neighbors driveway a few weeks ago. courtesy of my new camera phone. yes, i broke down and purchased a phone with said feature. i've got a few other nature and other boone shots to share and now that we have internet, waa-hoo, i'll be uploading and sharing in the next few posts. how's this brother dear? does this picture make you happy?

record highs

still no internet/cable, hopefully the problem will be remedied tomorrow. the cable company keeps sending installers before they’ve laid-the-line. and since the local office doesn’t have a phone number, at least one available to the public, we’ve had to physically go down there and make arrangements three or four times. so they finally laid-the-line wednesday, which was scheduled for friday, and we’re supposed to have everything (phone/internet/cable) installed tomorrow. i’ll be quite surprised if everything goes according to plan. i guess it was a good thing they didn’t come friday, they would have been vying for a parking spot in our driveway. we had the invisible fence installed, the plumbers working, and both our real estate agent and builder all here that morning.

even when you purchase a new home, you’re still going to have a few kinks that haven’t been completely worked out beforehand. ours was no different. luckily it’s still under warranty and all the problems are being fixed at someone else’s expense. the main culprit seems to be sediment from our well clogging screens and building up in our toilets causing them to continuously run. we noticed a wet spot on the ceiling in the living room after one toilet ran all night and immediately shut that water off. then the toilet in the master bedroom started to run, so i shut it off as well. (didn’t want to have a bigger problem than a few running toilets.) this was about a week after we moved in. we called the builder and informed him about the problem. he said he’d send a plumber to fix the problem, we hadn’t heard from him or a plumber since. jill and jerome suggested we call vivian, our real estate agent, and sic her on him. plumber was here two days later. we now have functioning toilets upstairs. thank goodness, i was getting tired of running up and down stairs to relieve myself. jerome with the help of aaron installed a filter on our water pipes and it has made a huge difference. i don’t have to fill the washer with buckets of water anymore. it was much easier to do that then to unscrew the hose, clean out the screen and reattach the hose again.

then a few weeks ago i was reading the Mountain Times, which is the equivalent to the Illinois Times, and i couldn’t believe how bad ‘design wise’ it looked. i ran upstairs to grab a copy of the IT to do a side-by-side comparison and when i walked into the guest bedroom i noticed a shard of glass on the carpet. i walked into the bathroom and the plate-glass mirror had fallen off the wall and shattered into a million pieces. it must have happened while we were bike riding that day and luckily we had closed the room off so the dogs were unaffected by the crashing glass. it looked like it was only held up with double-stick tape, which i found quite disturbing. we ran out and bought brackets for the other mirrors and replacing the mirror has been added to the list of things for the builder.

i did start painting some rooms this past week, the mudroom, my sewing room and two bathrooms. i didn’t have any problems till i reached the second downstairs bathroom. i decided i wanted to paint it yellow along with the other bathroom downstairs. so i bought a gallon of “pale butter” paint. i put on one coat and decided the color was too yellow, almost florescent for my taste. i only used a quarter of the paint so when i went back to lowes i bought a quart of the “sunglow” color. i was quite happy with this choice but it ended up taking me five coats and two quarts to cover up the other original yellow. i couldn’t figure out what was going on. i knew that i was covering up another color but it shouldn’t take me 5 coats to do so. i finally figured out the new paint roller i was using was spooging out some type of gray color along with my yellow and that was why i wasn’t making any progress. i switched rollers and problem was solved. i felt like i was in a steven king story and the room refused to be painted. after that ordeal, i’ve taken a short break from painting, mainly to give the blisters on my hand a rest. later this evening i’ll start painting the computer nook/craft room gray and red. i’m starting small and will eventually move up to the bigger rooms, but that might be a while.

tomorrow will be a busy day for all. aaron finally starts working. bosco and marley will get their first taste of the “correction” (shock) from the invisible fence, and i’ll be painting and waiting around for the cable people to install everything. it’ll be easier to update once we have everything in-house. i’ve only been going up to use internet every other day. it’s too much of a chore to make a special trip just to check email and browse. yeah, i’m lazy like that. i’ll post our movie listings tomorrow. we’ve watched an abundance of them the last month, probably more than we have in the last year. a lot rented and many from our own stash. we’re on a coen brothers kick. new favorite movie for me…the big lebowski.

till tomorrow.

oh, the reason for the title. apparently they’ve set record highs in temperature this summer, highs in the upper 80s. the humidity is what’s killing everyone, every single person i talk to says it’s never been this bad. i guess we brought the midwest weather with us. although i’ve heard it’s reached over 100 in springfield, so i really can’t complain.

old crow medicine show

i really wasn't a fan. i'd heard a few of their songs on xm and occasionally aaron would play their cds on a drive but i never had that "i have to have a copy for myself" feeling about them. so when he got tickets i was a little less than enthused. it was, however, something to do in boone and a chance to absorb some local culture. (they're from a nearby town)

there was a broad array of people at the show. hippie kids trying to get tickets outside the door; rich, grey heads sitting in seats all around us; lots of college kids dancing in the aisle. i was quite surprised the show was sold out, but soon changed my mind after the band took the stage. there wasn't an opening act, which doesn't happen too often these days.

the band took the stage a few minutes after 8. a stand-up bass player, 2 banjo players, a fiddler who also played the harmonica and guitar, and an acoustic guitar player. most of the guys looked like they were about our age, perhaps even younger. i wasn't expecting that at all. by their sound, i figured they were a lot older. they pretty much started rocking (or whatever you'd say bluegrass bands do) the instant they took the stage. i seriously felt like i had stepped back in time. no fancy light shows, no frills, no gimmicks just music. there was a lot of clapping, foot stomping, and hooting and hollering. even a little bantering between band members. they also had a local guy clogging/tapping/flat-footing to a few songs. i could imagine what the grand ole opry was like in it's heyday. i wondered if hank williams, johnny cash, patsy cline had played shows like this. it was, overall, a great experience.

far different from the police concert we had seen the week before. at least old crow appeared like they wanted to be there and that they still enjoyed each others company. don't get me wrong, sting was great. but that's about all i can say about the show. it was blah. none of the band members made any eye contact. hardly any movement about the stage. i was sooooo unimpressed. and that's all i'll say about that!

so i may be a slight convert/fan now. live shows have a way of doing the unexpected.

holy cannoli

Keeping busy, if it's not with the house then it's with activities in and around boone.

First, the food. we've pretty much eaten out every meal. We checked out some local digs and hit up a few standbys. Had my first cannoli after visiting a local Italian eatery (joe's). It's the first time I'd ever "save room for dessert." (what the sign said). When the waitress told me it had ricotta cheese I was a little stand-offish. But the picture looked so delish, I just had to try it. It was better than I expected, who knew cheese could taste like ice cream. Mmmmm. We also ate at black cat's (burritos), capone's (pizza), hunan's (Chinese buffet) and last night we went to the mellow mushroom. We originally went there for pizza but it was crowded and we would have had to wait 45 minutes for it to cook. So we ended up getting hoagies instead. Tonight we cooked a meal at home, a welcome change of pace.

After the mellow mushroom we went to Appalachian State (App. state) with jill and Jerome and watched old crow medicine show play to a sold out crowd. (I'll post a more detailed description about the show later, very worthy of it's own post). Came home afterwards, had a few drinks and turned in by midnight. I couldn't keep my eyes open, even when reading a short steven king story. Not typical for me. Today we were up by 7:30, at the farmer's market by 8, dog park at 11:30, art in the park in blowing rock at 2:30. Home at 5. Unpacking and crafting the rest of the evening. Yes, a very, very busy day. I'm waiting for things to slow down.

Unfortunately, I signed up for a swap before we moved and I have to get everything done in the next 2 weeks. It's the sweat shop swap, where I have to make 10 crafted items for 10 different people. Now was probably not the best time to participate, but I'm sure I'll be able to pull through. I've got half done, so it is looking promising.

Now to get some sleep and finish the story I started last night.

and i'm officially licensed in the state of north carolina to operate a motor vehicle. yeah!

handy sue

we finally see floor, at least upstairs. the basement, that's another story. everything that once was up is now down. i may try and freecycle the boxes. seems like a waste to dispose of so many useable ones, specially since we paid for them. hopefully someone in the area is moving soon and we'll clear out the house and be ecofriendly at the same time.

in a better attempt to keep organized we raided lowes and walmart looking for anything and everything that will keep things nice and tidy. might as well start off clean, how long it lasts that's another story. i installed an in-the-cabinet trashcan and a pot/pan lid organizer. aaron attempted to fix the lawn mower, had the manual out and everything. apparently the movers had disconnected the hand brake and he couldn't figure out how to reconnect it. lucky he has me, i took a look and bada-bing it's working. one thing aaron lacks is patience that and handyman skills. good thing he has me! he did put together some shelves in the garage and a tool organizer. so props to awes.

jerome came over today and switched out our dryer outlet. i guess newer dryers have 4 prongs and ours only has 3. i'm glad he's around to help with the little things, well I guess that's kinda big since neither of us would have known what to do. he was in and out in 5 minutes.

another run to walmart to get a dresser to replace the one we gave baby baima and to lowes to replace the battery to our cordless drill. we've pretty much got a beeline to both places. i'm sure we'll be visiting often in the upcoming weeks. if you can't find us here, we're probably there.

welcome to the high country

It’s official, we’ve left the Midwest and are slowly becoming residents of boone. We left Carbondale Saturday morning and made it here in about 9 ½ hours. (Had to make a few pit stops with the dogs.) It’s the first time I’ve had to drive the last hour of the trip and let me tell you that I’m not a fan. Just don’t like those windy roads. Guess I better get used to it, it’s now my life. At least we live really close to town and I won’t be driving them on a daily basis.

All our loot arrived yesterday, all 8500 lbs of it. Aaron had to go pick up our truck driver at 6:30 a.m. cause the driver drove by the night before and didn’t think he would be able to make it with his semi. There was a possibility they would have to get a smaller trunk, unload our stuff in a parking lot, load it onto the small truck and then drive over here to unload again. Luckily, in the light of day it wasn’t a problem. I was amazed how the driver was able to maneuver that big rig. He was able to back it up on an incline and turn completely around in a small cul-de-sac. Crazy. I also learned it costs about $1000 to fill up a semi truck that has a 300 gallon tank. And they get between 5-8 miles a gallon. Insane. We ended up helping the guys unload the truck. They didn’t get a local crew to help so there was just 2 guys including the driver to unload. We called in Jerome and the five of us got everything unloaded in about 5 hours.

Anyways our stuff made it safely, at least all the boxes we’ve unpacked thus far. We’ve mainly plowed through the kitchen boxes and not a single glass broken, chipped or scarred. Impressive. I remember when I was younger how excited I was about unpacking boxes every time we moved. (Which was once ever 3 to 4 years.) It’d be 3-4 months before you got your stuff so you’d semi-forget what was packed. How quickly that changes when you’re unpacking a whole house of stuff you just saw last week. I guess I really can’t complain. At least I didn’t have to pack, load and transport everything.

It may be a few weeks before we get internet and cable. I think they have to lay a line out to the house before we can have everything up and running. We’ve been heading to panera and aaron’s office to get on the internet. You don’t realize how much you use something til it’s gone. I think I could live without tv, but the internet that’s a different story. We google everything. How do you make sushi rolls? Who’s the actor in that one movie? How do you spell…? The list goes on. Plus it feels like a slight disconnect when I can’t check my email or other sites. Plus none of you all know how we are if I don’t give you an update every once in a while.

Just to let you know, I did fail the written portion of my nc drivers license test. Don’t worry, I missed the most obscure questions that have nothing to do with my driving abilities. How am supposed to know the percentage of people killed by drunk drivers every year or that you have to downshift when going down a steep incline instead of breaking? (who drives a stick anymore?) it would have helped if I would have glanced at the book, but I didn’t think I would have to take the actual test since I’m licensed in Illinois. Now I know the laws backwards and forwards. Ask me anything!! (Courtesy of not having tv or internet or anything else for that matter.) The funny thing is that I do have a license number already in the system from when I lived here 15 years ago. I remember taking driver’s ed in Fayetteville my sophomore year of high school. I don’t remember actually getting a license but my permit must have acted somewhat like a license. Weird, I almost don’t associate living at ft. bragg as living in north Carolina. And we lived there twice while I was growing up. Maybe boone was more than a cowinky-dink. Hmmmm.

Back to unpacking…ugh!

he's baaaaack!

when i was walking by the t.v. today i caught a little snipet of the upcoming season of dr.90210. to my surprise, i saw an all too familiar face pop up on the screen. yes, dr. kirby is back. i did a quick google search and found his official website. oh wait, he has two. his professional and his fan site. i laughed out loud when i read the about section, actually i was amused by the whole site. first of all, i can't believe he has his own line of cosmeceuticals, oh wait, yes i can... gotta jump on that bandwagon. he just finished his d.o. residency and now he knows everything there is to know about skin. i'm sure he was coming up with his line in between appearances on the young and the restless and battle of the network reality stars. second, i like how it doesn't mention anything about being a board certified dermatologist, oh wait he's not. third, why the hell do you have to register to view his so-called fan site? he's not that big a celebrity. even in his own field, most dermatologists have no clue who he is. i must say this, he's kept his name out there, learned how to brand himself, and i'm sure will make a killing when the show airs. hello people. he's not offering you anything you can't get over-the-counter. yeah, i'm a little biased. just a tad.

the great credit card prank

we had to run out and buy microsoft office for mac today. after my hard drive crashed last month i lost all the software i "borrowed" from work which included microsoft word. i had decided it wasn't really necessary to reinstall but apparently aaron thinks it's a must have so we went to 4 different stores to find it. finally found it at micropower, where we should have started. when paying for the program the clerk asked to see aaron's i.d. his signature on the back of his debit card says "see i.d." the clerk asked how many people actually ask to see his i.d. and aaron told him about 25 percent of the time. the guy said he was only asking cause he has the same thing written on the back of his card and he rarely gets asked for an i.d.

what's funny about the conversation? i was just telling aaron on the way over there about this site i came across yesterday about the same thing. i actually found the site because it had a tutorial on how to put skins (graphics) on your credit card. it had a link that went into detail about an experiment the user did on whether or not clerks actually compared signatures on the backs of credit cards. i found it funny and quite disturbing at the same time. no wonder identity theft is so prevalent in this country. check it out the great credit card prank and then some

**blush**

so my partner received her package today and she just gushed. i thought i'd post the personal message she sent me and the post to the group. it was a great first swap and helps confirm my future may lie in crafting.

---

Susan!! Oh my god, i just wrote the most insanely long post in the rockabilly swap gallery gushing over everything you sent me!

I absolutely love everything you sent me. Sometimes swaps are really hit and miss and there will be a couple of things i like and the rest are just nice.. but i LOVED everything you made, that box is gorgeous.. and the bag! You went above and beyond and your skills are awesome!
Thank you so much, i hope you really did like what i sent you because i LOVE what you sent me!!

xoxo Suzanne

---

I received from my partner nosusanfx today and ohhhh my god, she did an amazing job!! Seriously, she nailed my style and taste perfectly and i love love love everthing. I couldn't possible even pick a favorite!

The bag is insane, its made out of the cutest cherry print fabric with a drawstring top, and the handles are red and black beads, seriously love it! I already transferred all my purse crap into it!







There was a matching small cherry drawstring bag with two felt stuffies in it, a nautical star and a heart with wings. A perfectly cute matching pin cushion and headband too!



I love this box. Its going to be my new jewelry box. The cover is hand painted with the most amazing skull butterfly, the outside is painted with spiderwebs AND decoupaged with traditional tattoo pictures, and the inside is lined with leopard print!



see how awesome!?



I had really been wanting some felt day of the dead skull stuffies i had seen floating around craftster but never got around to making any.. and when i opened up the wooden box look what i found:

THREE of them!! And some awesome marble magnets that are already on my fridge!

I love everything Susan, you did an awesome job, everything was soo well made and thoughtful, I can tell you took some time to eally figure out what i would like! Thank you!!

stuffed sushi

another night out with the ladies. tonight we hit up pao! ordered 6 rolls, 2 orders of calamari, 5 salads, 1 gourmet pizza, 1 pao chicken, 2 bottles of wine, 8 strawberry mojitos and 3 different desserts. perhaps the best meal ever! i wish would have started "girls night" sooner. less than 2 weeks and i'll be a north carolinian.

where will be the next two weeks?? let me tell you. tomorrow morning we head to stl to meet up with some of aaron's med school buddies for one last harrah. later we'll head over to matt and kristin's for a fam/friend's going away party. sunday, rest. monday morning aaron wants to teach me how to be a histologist, monday night back to stl for the police concert. tuesday, recover. wednesday cards game with the caraways. thursday, last ortho appt. (nope not getting them off before we move! boo!) friday, another going away party thrown by the langeis/semens for us. saturday, another cards game. sunday-tuesday get house ready for movers. wednesday, movers pack up the house. thursday, movers load our stuff and at 2:30 we close on the springfield house. then we're boone bound. damn, i'm getting tired just thinking about it. or it could be the food settling in. mmmmm.

current river: party of 15

photos from the weekend. new photos added daily.

cole edward toliver

here's cousin david's new addition. a strapping young lad born today at 1:57pm. 8 pounds 6.8 ounces, 20 inches long. congrats dave and jess!!

what i thought was cool was how david sent out an audio announcement via email.

here's the audio link

you've made my wistlist

ever in a pickle and can't figure out what to get someone gift wise? let me introduce you to the wistlist. a convenient way to catalog anything you see on the web that you need to have!! no guessing here. i've started one and it's already come in handy. my swap partner used it to make my pincushion and to gauge my style. i use it for reference. lots of cute, crafty things out there and now i can conveniently keep track of it. check it out.

my wistlist

so ends my public service announcement.

shot in the arm

i finally went in and laid out all my g.i. problems for dr. my symptoms have been getting progressively worse and i'm almost positive it may be one of the causes of my insomnia. my primary dr. told me i have a bad case of heartburn. i think i may have gerd (gastroesophageal reflux disease). this is, of course, is a self diagnosis.

the checklist:

xx Do you suffer from heartburn symptoms more than two or three times a week?

no Do the symptoms feel like a burning under your breastbone?

xx Do your symptoms often get worse after eating?

xx Are you taking antacids after every meal to minimize symptoms? Do they help?

no Do you feel a burning chest pain when exercising?

xx Are your symptoms worse when you lie down?

xx Do you often taste a faint sense of acid in your mouth?

xx Do you have trouble sleeping at night?

no Do you have asthma that is made worse when you're having heartburn?

no Does your voice get scratchy when you have heartburn?

xx Is heartburn interfering with your quality of life?

Answering yes to one or more of these questions might mean you have GERD. *ding, ding*

i pop pepto/pepcid like candy. first it was a few after a night of drinking. now it's 6 or more after anything i eat or drink. i actually went to sleep at a decent time one night this weekend and found myself sitting up in our tent 3 or 4 times fighting off the nausea i've been getting more frequently than not. tomorrow i go on the strong stuff. hopefully i'll find some relief. damn, i'm getting old. who blogs about heartburn?

i did get a tetanus shot during my office visit. can't even remember the last time i had one of those so it was due time. now i'm nursing a head cold (courtesy of the current), upset stomach and sore arm. wheel me to the nursing home now! ;)

rockabilly swap

so here are the spoils from my rockabilly swap partner. yes, my partner absolutely spoiled me. (from left to right) decopaged tattoo journal, elvis tote bag, cross-stitched "sew little time" sign with cherry details, 2 nautical themed duffels, cherry and hearts apron, placemats and a skully pincushion. and two bags of gummi candy...mmmmm!

current---whoa!

here's a little exert of an article i received from amy tonight about our upcoming float weekend.

"Beer bongs of all types are prohibited," Poe said. "It used to be a funnel and tube, now they're coming with bongs made out of PVC pipe with three or four funnels rigged to a central distribution system. Beer kegs of any size are prohibited, and no Jell-O shots.

"If a ranger catches somebody with a big string of Mardi Gras beads, they'll tell them they will be busted if they solicit. If a woman bares her breasts, we're going to cite her for disorderly conduct."

Alcohol will be permitted, but a recommendation will be made that floaters drink no more than six cans of beer or an equivalent amount of hard liquor. "Alcohol is not banned in the park," Poe said. "I am going to try some other measures first."

i guess i better get rid of the beads and the bongs!

oh...and i inspired someone today. "highly influenced and inspired by nosusanfx's wrap skirt" my sewing skills are paying off!

what jesus loves

sunday i wore my "jesus loves me and my tattoos" tee for the first time. yes, a couple of years i broke down and purchased one. i found it quite funny but it's an obnoxious pink and i'm not one to wear shirts with writing sprawled across my chest. i saw this picture today and found it quite ironic. apparently the first baptist church disagrees with me. blasphemy.

boston love

here's some of my recent work. my latest obsession is working with felt. all hand sewn. it's semi-fast and i get to use the kazillion beads i bought years ago to make bracelets. these are day of the dead pins and a nautical star i made for my swap. i'm quite happy with the end results. oh yeah!

bosco represent. this is the beginning of a little pouch/purse i'm gonna make. it was a great way to kill the 12 hour drive to boone earlier this month. i noticed there weren't too many boston crafts on the net so this might be my niche. right now i'm trying to stock pile my crafts so i can create an online shop to eventually sell my handiwork. i'm a little overwhelmed trying to learn new things and i want to dabble in everything. it's fun and i really enjoy making things from scratch. it's so fulfilling to know you had a few pieces of fabric and created a one-of-a-kind item.

tomorrow is graduation for the chiefs with a mega party at floyds afterwards. i'm looking forward to it. it'll probably be the last hoorah for all of us together. such a sad thought. i'm gonna miss everyone tremendously. boo. i'm sure i'll have pictures galore to share. be prepared for tongues, devil horns and sexy side poses. satch is notorious for those.

here's lily modeling an outfit i made last year using one of the outfits aaron's mom made for the boys. i added the hat.

in case you were wondering what our children will look like...lily should give you an accurate indication. she's the product of a half korean man and pale white woman. our doppelgangers! she's simply adorable!!

things that bother me... that show a little of the ocd i harbor. i posted this earlier today and it really bothers me that the photos are not aligned on the left. so i must insert filler copy to bulk up the post so my small photos are aligned. of course it won't matter much, cause it's all dependent on screen settings where the photos fall. at least it'll curb my anxiety.

update your files

right before we left for our week in the nc mountains, i was able to finish the birth announcements for baby ethan. i think i might just have to pat myself on the back cause i love the way they turned out. they were a lot of work, but in the end well worth it. i made moving announcements for the baima clan as well.

all in all, i was happy with the outcome.

yes, we finally closed on our house in boone on monday. we are the proud new owners of 115 martys road. it was a hassle getting all our ducks in a row, but in the end everything worked out and we both are quite happy with our purchase. we stayed there all week, living on air mattresses and the bare minimum, no tv, internet, video games. danny accompanied us on our trip and we had a fun-filled week...hiking, biking and fishing. the weather was perfect and i really don't have any anxiety about moving there. i actually can't wait to get my hands on the house and yard. so many ideas and plans. it's almost overwhelming, but it'll be fun.

i've got a mountain of projects to work on. and an impending move to plan for. kristin wants me to put knock-out material on the back of a shade she bought for baby max's nursery. it's proving to be more difficult than i anticipated. i guess if it functions that's all that really matters. it's not my best work by any means. and yes, we did get to see baby max twice in the last week. once on our way to nc and once on our way back. 10 days old and oh what a handsome little devil!! almost want to have one of my own. in due time my friends.

i was jonesing for my sewing machine while we were away. i get to do a rockabilly/pin-up girl swap this month. it's where i create 4 projects and my partner creates 4 projects and then we swap what we made. i'm looking forward to it cause it pushes me to practice my sewing skills. brian also called me and told me one of the ladies at his church wants me to make her the same handbag i made irina and i had another girl emailed me about swapping for a messenger bag. maybe i can start making an income sewing things i like. oh the possibilities. now to get back to work.

what's your poison?

i've literally been on the phone for 2 days straight. apparently there's been a failure to communicate as far as closing on the house goes and now we're scrambling to get things in order by tomorrow. ugh! banks, lawyers, real estate agents, utilities, insurance companies, builders. buying a house from afar sucks. seriously, why do we have to be the middleman on everything.

example: the real estate agent calls me, "i just talked to the insurance company and the bank only sent half of the appraisal and they need the other half to finish off the paperwork." okay. why didn't the insurance company just call the bank to tell them they only got half? and why did the bank only send half? and why didn't the insurance company call me to let me know the situation immediately so if they're not going to call, i can?

and why are we waiting this long to get insurance? state farm tells us tuesday they can't/won't insure the house. we filed a claim with our current company to get a new roof in 2005 (wind damage) so now they won't insure us. no ifs, ands or buts. we even told them we'd take our car insurance elsewhere...still no love. now we're scrambling to get insurance in time for closing. and i'm forced to keep on top of things so we don't have another failure to communicate. apparently state farm won't insure anyone that's made a claim. becky told me yesterday that they won't cover anyone in new orleans after hurricane katrina. they even denied oprah!!

now to get back to phone calls. i'll have a virtual tour of our new home up shortly.

oh, i almost forgot the reason for my headline. i think i may have gotten a small case of food poisoning two nights ago.

old and tattooed

just got home from visiting the fam in md/dc. did a lot of sightseeing tuesday. walked about 8 miles in a pair of target flip-flops. while touring the sites, i was avoiding the sun and standing under a shade tree. simple enough. an old man with a camera decides to do the same and literally stands 5 inches in front of me, facing me. there's not a single soul under this mass expanse of tree and he decides to stand right there. of course i'm thinking he wants me to take a picture. so i ask, "would you like me to take a photo?" he starts scrolling through his photos saying nothing. not moving. i'm thinking he's checking to see if the last lady did a good job taking the photo. so i just stand there. waiting. he finally looks up and says, "why'd you go and do that?" pointing to my tattoos which were half covered. "uhh...cause i like them." was all i could muster. he then proceeds to give me the "tsk, tsk" look and walks away. seriously. what the hell just happened?! and to top things off. when we get around the monument he's standing there and tells me "have a nice day." and walks off. of course, i heard "happy birthday." and thought the old man was crazy and gave my dad the wtf face. apparently really old people don't think women should have tattoos and they're not afraid to tell you to your face.

sometimes i make mistakes

yeah, the starbucks downtown had grande fraps for $3.88. that, by far, is the cheapest in the city of springfield. i wonder if being located in a hotel holds some significance in the price. i'll have to ask next time.

gotta pack and get ready for my trip out east. tomorrow i'm gonna do a little wine in the woods with brian and irina and hopefully some old classmates. sorta like the herman wine festivals in missouri but this one looks like it's got more associated with it. you can't really compete with people on stilts. sunday is jessica and david's baby shower, which my whole family will be attending. rest of the time will be spent hanging out with family. for awhile there we were seeing everyone once a month. now it's been 4. we need to get married more often, so people will come visit! ;)

i've made a few handbags and a few coin purses. if i have time today i'll make a headband. my dress is almost done. only thing left to do is insert the zipper. i've been avoiding it like the plague. i'll attempt it when i get a few more projects under my belt. i'd post pictures but my computer is on the fritz. i took it in wednesday, couldn't get the darn thing to boot. of course it's 2 months past the warranty date, so it'll probably cost me a pretty penny to get fixed. hopefully the hard drive isn't fried. that's my only fear... losing everything i had on there. yeah. good thing i backed everything up...yeah right. luckily adrian let me borrow his laptop while it's in the shop. so i'm still connected to life and all things important like craftster and myspace! j/k.

i should have photos to post when i get back. gotta get this party started.

garage sale freak

friday and saturday we bucked up and participated in our neigborhood garage sale. got rid of a lot of unecessary things we didn't want to haul to boone. all told we made about $400 between four fams. the stealeys made out like bandits almost taking in half. anyways, when you're manning one of these sales you get to see some wiry characters. people who just laugh uncontrollably at nothing, people who want to divulge their life stories in 2 minutes, and the classic cubs jerk.

this guy comes up wearing a wrigley field shirt and immediately says to aaron, "i hate your hat." then proceeds to browse through some cds. we all look at each other. wtf?? aaron being the nice guy he is says, "i'm not a cubs fan but i like wrigley field." to which jerk replies, "i fucking hate cardinal fans." and walks away. whoa...seriously...wtf? sorry the cubs haven't won since 1908 but is it really something to get your panties in a wad about!

i really wished i had been wearing my new tee. this is my latest project. i wanted an old school looking cardinals tee. i'm still reconstructing the front, but this is what i have on the back. i'm probably gonna make one for aaron too with a thrift store find. it's all stretched out so i'm going to have to do some sewing on it to make it a little more form fitting.

baby westphal lives in style

matt and kristin are having a baby and they're not finding out the sex beforehand. kristin picked out this somewhat gender neutral fabric and asked if i'd make a window valance for the nursery. first time, pattern-free project. not too difficult, no zippers involved. i also made a matching pillow. luckily our bedroom is close to the same color as the nursery so you can get a general idea of what it's going to look like in place. i'm running rampant with the sewing machine and i'm addicted to craftster.

hardcore addict

my addiction to coffee hasn't dwindled in the slightest. i guess i really shouldn't call it coffee cause that's what you pay 50 cents for at the local gas station. i'll call it "the heaven blended coffee drink." today i christened the new starbucks located in our local target. yeah, the one across the street from the freestanding starbucks. which is located down the block from barnes and noble which also sells starbucks coffee. of course none of these places are conveniently located on the southend of town where i dwell.

i thought by overindulging in this HBCD i'd soon tire of it, not the case. when i make plans, i decide what route i need to take in order to patronize one. when i get lunch out i'll spend a $1 on a burger and $4 on the drink. when i babysit i'm paid in HBCDs or gift cards. i've even considered working there so i can get my daily fix. basically starbucks runs my life.

i even find myself justifying why spending $4 on a drink is okay. i don't smoke or do drugs, no money spent there. i rarely drink, especially out. i don't like much chocolate. and if i wanted to make my own drinks, i'd have to buy a coffee maker, buy coffee, chocolate and whatever other ingredients so more money spent there.

but alas...boone does not have a starbucks. it doesn't have one "coming soon" either. (i checked their website.) the closest one would be 40 miles away in johnson city. yes i am fretting about this. looking for recipes online. pondering if i should stockpile them in a freezer we doen't have at home. already wondering if i need to mapquest the johnson city locations to have in my car.

springfield has 3 freestanding starbucks ($4.15=grande, no whip mocha), 1 located in target ($4.04), 1 located in the hilton downtown ($4.08) and 1 located in barnes and noble ($4.15). yes, i am an addict.

tell me about your boston

so i posted to a "group" for the first time tonight. gay is me.

question:
what has your boston ate?

my reply:
we've got two bostons, bosco (7) and marley (2). bosco shreds any stuffed toy we give him, especially when there's a sqeaker inside. marley, on the other hand, could care less about dog toys, she goes after the big stuff. she's pulled my backpacks and purses off counters countless times. once she devoured a bag of gummi bears. another time she consumed a bottle of advil (which required an emergency trip to the vet and a very expensive bill). they both tag-teamed and got an entire pizza minus a slice off the kitchen counter. got the pantry door open and punctured and dragged a full bottle of crangrape juice through the kitchen and into the carpeted living room. red lipstick. chapstick. any plant part...dirt, leaves, branches. shoes, especially flip-flops. a whole box of dog biscuits. rope toys. underwear. hardcover books. cds. we've learned to puppy-proof the house on a daily basis, invested in locks for the pantry and we move everything a foot away from the edge of the counters. they still seem to find something.

i'm mommy's little monster

aaron's been in florida the past few days at a mohs meeting and i've been home nursing some painful tooth aches. i don't know how teenagers deal with braces. they absolutely suck. i think my main problem is i got both wires changed this time around and it's only been one or the other the past few appointments. i finally ate solid food with the help of some tylenol w/codeine. popping them like candy.

with my new sewing obsession i've been scouring websites looking for inspiration. i am having a difficult time staying motivated. main reason: i'm a bit of a perfectionist. and since i'm so new at this i'm getting frustrated more often than not. i know i have to keep practicing, find inspiration, just work harder. hopefully i'll have some wearable pieces. my dress is coming along. i'll proably get it done by the end of the weekend. here's some fashion and sewing websites i've been visiting on a daily basis: stylebytes, craftster, craftgrrl, sew_hip, diy girls, and this is a great site to buy and sell hand-made objects etsy. i'll probably head back there after this.

tomorrow i'm heading to stl to see social d!! it's carrie's birthday as well so it's gonna be double fun! can't wait. should have tons of pics after this weekend. yeah!

got rubber?

i just got them tightened today and added a pesky rubber band. yes, i'm in pain and perhaps i'll have them off before we move. fingers crossed.

serge this

i just bought one and am about to go and pick it up. i'm gonna try and get better at this sewing thing. i've been working on a top this past weekend. (in between camping and lawn work) it's a skirt i made last year but had problems with the zipper. freaking hate those things. it looks way better now. i did improve on the gather technique and am getting a tad bit better at reading patterns. i like to skim and thus i seem to read over some important steps. my next project is a dress with some silver detail. gotta make an outfit for my new ballet flats. i'll post some pics when i get both completely done.

the new abode

here it is. as of june 1st this baby will be ours. (pending home inspection)

blood, sweat & beer

for some reason i've been sweating a ton during step class. i mean hair plastered to forehead, shirt drenched, need to hydrate sweat. usually i run home and shower before doing anything else. not today. ran over to brian and jennifer's to see baby jack. dropped off some contracts at the real estate lawyer. got a coffee drink. stopped off at the bank to cash carrie's check (yeah, it took me this long). ran over to lowes to get specs on carpet. i'm finally home. luckily i wore a sweatshirt to trap the stench. but i just looked in the mirror and can't believe i was running around town looking like this. pretty soon i'll be wearing mom jeans and rocking the mullet.

we may go camping tomorrow night, depending on when jennaya has baby sam. jamie's gonna be there for the actual birth. don't think i'll volunteer for that one. i'll visit when everything is clean and tidy, no guts, blood and mucous. is it appropriate to bring someone a 6 pack of beer after giving birth? maybe i should start rocking that mullet now!

the ballet flat

my new favorite shoe. i'm up to 3 pairs. black patent, brown plaid and today silver. feather weight and cute as hell. i can't believe i haven't owned a pair before now. they're totally my style, completely comfortable and dress an outfit up in a flash. love em!

your arguement, my arguement

you: if you'd have used all the browned beef, you wouldn't have to throw the rest away 2 weeks later.

me: i'd have to buy double the meat, take twice as many trips and spend more money.

i win.

in case you haven't seen the landlord

sweet and sold!

our house was officially on the market for 36 hours and we've sold it, or pretty much sold it, in that time. both of us were quite surprised at how fast it happened. the couple offered two thousand less than the asking price which was what we were officially shooting for. sweet deal. that's one less thing we'll have to worry about in the upcoming months. here's the link to the online ad. i must say, i did a pretty good job staging the house. if you know me, our house never looks this clean.

the before and after

our house will be officially on the market in 2 days. today i went around and took pictures of the different rooms for the cifsbo.com website (i'll post the link when it becomes available). i did find some old photos of what the house originally looked like. whoa! it's crazy how different 99 percent of the house looks. i think the only thing that looks somewhat the same is the front yard. here's a small sample of what i'm talking about.

i'll post some more as i take them. you can definetly tell that the previous owners and i differed in taste...to say the least!

say what?

here's the reply to my email from yesterday.

Where's Boone? Couples will have to move to the location of the house. Tell me more about your story, can you give me a phone number so we can talk more?
Thanks!
Sharon

i guess they're not filming in boone...i'm confused.

are you competitive??

know it's unbelievable but boone has a craigslist page. i was browsing it this evening and ran across this posting. can you say omen?

If you have recently married...been married for less than 2 years or will be married before July 2007...you already qualify to be in a competition against other couples to win a Dream House!

contact Sharon at dreamhousesharon@yahoo.com

We will be in town very soon and need to cast the show ASAP! We will begin shooting in July!!!

so contact us today for your chance at winning your Dream House!

Please no one under 21.

thanks and Good Luck!

* Location: Boone
* Compensation: paid/prizes

and yes sharon has been contacted!

a quarter for some zit cream

i was in the mall today and looked up and saw this. i don't know why i was surprised almost dumbfounded when i saw it. our little mall with this huge sales station for proactiv. i'm not sure what's more annoying, the badgering of salespeople at the little kiosks or a wall to wall obnoxious vending machine.

out with the blue

our kitchen, at least 3/4 of it, is now a buttery yellow. canary to be more exact. i've spent the last 2 days painting, getting the house ready to put on the market. although i love the blue, i have a feeling about 99 percent of the buying market will think it's a little too much. i did, however leave 5 small walls the blue. couldn't bare to part with it all, plus i ran out of paint and have no desire to buy another gallon. now i have to finish painting trim and then touch-up old paint. i did notice that the ceiling and the floors now look dingy and gross. it's a never-ending cycle, we'll never get this house looking 100 percent. at least not in my eyes. tomorrow someone is coming out to look at the water-damaged window sill and i noticed this past weekend that the trim around the garage is starting to fall apart. another thing that probably needs to be fixed before we sell. we need to get out of this house before it implodes on us. anyone looking to buy in springfield...shoot me a line.

burning some rubber

here's an image of what my parents are doing now that the weather's nicer. if you know my mom, you'll find this extremely funny. i know i did!

if you click on the image it'll show them in action.

on the hunt

we've been in boone, nc the past week looking for a house to move into later this summer. we looked at about 30 houses in 2 days. trekking through high country on windy roads does not make susan a happy camper. i don't think i've ever gotten carsick, but i was on the verge more times than not. there's a few prospects but we haven't committed to anything. we'll probably make a move sometime in the upcoming weeks. gotta sell the home in the patch first.

i've been a little lazy when it comes to blogging. i'll have to get back on board soon, especially when we move. gotta keep the kiddies updated. i'm sitting at nate and katie's computer blogging this. we decided to stop in carbondale on our drive home. had to get the hair fixed. had a very unfortunate run-in with very bad hairdresser. i don't know what i'm going to do when be move 9 hours away!!

funk as druck

above is what you get when you have an open bar at your reception! thanks katie and abby. i've emailed a few people about redoing their pages, mainly because they didn't flip it over to complete the second side. i'll be happy to email anyone that is interested in filling one out, even if you didn't attend. it's always a nice keepsake to have and one can always use advice. i may be able to post it. if not, i'll be happy to email it.

you don't have to turn on the red light

i'm sitting here waiting for 10 a.m. to roll around so i can purchase tickets to the police. yeah, the police are having a reunion tour and aaron is all about it. he called to make sure i was up, to make sure the tickets got bought. i'm up, i'm up already. he could have called me 10 minutes before instead of 30. i was resting so comfortably. i still need to fix my sleep schedule. last night...4 a.m. but that's after trying to go to bed at 1. i tossed and turned for about 2 hours, got up, played a little online gaming and attempted sleep again at 4.

4 dirty birds

for much of the '90s i was consumed with the red hot chili peppers. music, art, correspondence, notebooks, etc. i'd find some way to incorporate them into every aspect of my life. i'd even given serious thought into getting the sprocket tattooed on my wrist. that's how much i loved them.

i remember the first time i saw them in concert. march of 1992. our high school rewarded honor students with cash and prizes, the renaissance program it was called. this year they got 30 or so tickets to the peppers. ohhhh, to win one. that was my ultimate goal that year. luckily i scored one (see my half ticket stub above) along with most, if not all of my close friends.

from here on out the details are sorta sketchy. i remember having to travel to what was once east berlin. to a small club, packed to the gills with people. a majority of us ended up on the second floor on the right hand side of the stage. incredibly close. rollins band opened...no recollection of them at all. fishbone also played and rocked. the main thing i remember with them was the reverb machine they used. finally the peppers took the stage. anthony wearing silver shorts, shirtless, his hair whipping around. they put on one of the best shows i'd ever seen. full of energy. it was amazing. it just clinched my love for them.

why the homage? last night aaron and i went to champaign and i got to relive why i love this band. it's been almost 15 years and it's almost as if time had stood still. they absolutely rocked. they probably have more fans today then they did years ago. my only complaint...they played 4 older songs...(if you have to ask, me and my friends, soul to squeeze and give it away)...i would have loved to hear more.

i'll post pictures and some video tomorrow. if anyone has details they'd like to add about the concert...please do so! i have a very bad memory so i'd love the help.

moley, moley, moley

remember that mole i had aaron shave off. below is the biopsy report he received from dr. semans.

CLINICAL DATA: Recently and finally! married cute female of asian extraction adorned with sexy ink deposits. Lesion recently chewed by horny husband.

CLINICAL IMPRESSION: Ectopic Pregnancy

GROSS DESCRIPTION: Received in a papoose labeled with "I Want A Baby!" is an oval shave 2mm thick, with a round 4mm well circumscribed uniform tan scabbed papule. Inked, quadrisected, totally submitted.

MICROSCOPIC DESCRIPTION: There is a proliferation of goofy-looking cells with slanty eyes running around in the dermis looking for babies, and a thick layer of hairless spermatozoa encrusting the epidermis. The combined genetic potential of these cells is highly debatable and should be illegal.

IMPRESSION: Funky-monkey flesh, labeled "Hunk A Hunk A Burnin Love," chewed off.

North Carolinny, Here We Come!

---

here are the real results: Benign Dermal Malanocytic Nevus (basically nothing but a mole but i liked the first report better so i thought i'd share.)

shopping spree

the contents of a recent online shopping spree. i've decided to try to be a bit more "girly" when it comes to wardrobe. i don't think i've ever just worn a dress for leisure. jeans have become my everyday staple and i definitely need a change. it's gonna be a hard habit to break. i told myself i'd wear the romper today and i changed my mind at the last minute. will this be the great skirt fiasco of 2005? buying and not wearing. maybe i'll revisit all the hardly touched skirts hanging in my closet while turning over this new leaf.

bejeweled

i recently acquired a lot of 14 captive rings via ebay. i had taken out my previous rings when i got x-rayed for my braces and i've lost most, if not all. i needed new ones anyways, most of my old ones didn't match and were in a variety of sizes. yesterday when i got the batch, i was ecstatic about slipping them on. to my surprise, i can't get a single one in any of the 5 holes i have open. it's been a year and a half, the holes are still visible but obviously not capable of handling a 14 gauge hoop. i almost went with the 12 gauges. so glad i decided not to. now i have to figure out how i'm gonna stretch my holes to accommodate my new gems. may have to get out the ice and perform an at-home remedy. or see if the doctor has any fat needles at work and have him perform some minor surgery.

speaking of minor surgery, yesterday i let aaron cut off a mole in the comfort of our living room. wasn't anything big, seemed quite small in fact when i saw it floating in the vial. it's one of those things that looks and feels huge when it's on your own body. can't wait til we move to boone and i have access to laser hair removal. i'm going to go crazy zapping hair left and right. or i should say aaron or jill will go crazy.

jamie just called and wanted to know if i cared if she backed out of working out today. of course not. i'm dying from our workout yesterday. so far so good. out of 7 days we've worked out 6. i may do a little workout at home tonight. that is, if my body permits. right now, it says no-way!

berlin in the 1990s

one of the high school groups i belong to asked alumni to put together slide shows from that era. here's my contribution.

a tobogganing we will go

three days into to working out and so far so good. i think i may change my mind tomorrow. i'm gonna feel the pain, i know it.

monday jamie and i hit fitclub south and did a step aerobics class. how i was a cheerleader i'll never know. i'm so uncoordinated. left, right, over the top, mambo...what?!? right, left...what?!?

today we hit fitclub west and did a powerzone class. have you seen my arms? the ones flimsier than spaghetti? now they'll be flimsy and racked with pangs. so not looking forward to it.

aaron wanted me to get some sleds today for the weekend. tomorrow jamie and i and hopefully jennaya will test them out. i'll try and take a camera to document our tobogganing fun. for those of you from the south, these are the toboggans you ride and not the ones you wear on your head.

i wish we could have the snow without the cold. i can just feel the sickness creeping on. don't be surprised if i start complaining next week about how sick i am. it will be totally worth it.

cabin fever

we woke up this morning with a few inches of snow. now we're completely blizzarded in. aaron just got back from work and decided to shovel the driveway, which he already did this morning. while shoveling, a car traveling down the street got stuck. offering some help they managed to get it going. at least a few feet. they haven't plowed our street at all and from what aaron said they haven't really plowed much outside the neighborhood either. here's a few photos from a few minutes ago. i've had to coax the dogs in and out today. they're a little too prissy when it comes to 12 inches of snow.

siu 72 creighton 68

creighton smashing

we're heading down to carbondale this weekend. not sure if we'll leave tonight or tomorrow morning. aaron's program is meeting today to discuss the match list. (where they rank candidates they've interviewed in order of preference. candidates, in turn, rank schools they've interviewed at and then they match the two) the actual match doesn't occur til march or at least that's when the med students find out where they're headed. apparently it's a long process, especially when different personalities are involved. aaron gets one vote as an attending and each resident gets a half vote but they have to agree on someone to make it a whole vote. sounds confusing. at least this is what i understand.

well they started late, and there could be a chance they won't get done til 9 or 10 this evening. if that's the case then we won't leave til tomorrow. hopefully there won't be too much of a debate. aaron brought home all the paper work last night, including thank you letters and the notes he took on each candidate. it's funny, because he said that most of the people are more than qualified so you have to look elsewhere to find reasons why you ding someone. for instance, someone wrote a thank you letter and instead of writing aaron they wrote anthony. harmless mistake, but it's something that could possibly be a deciding factor. and another girl wrote a thank you letter saying she was going to rank them number one, but forgot to change the school so it was obvious she wrote the same letter to all programs. all petty mistakes but could possibly decide their fates. crazy, to have so much power!

nonetheless, we'll be in the dale tomorrow for sure. hopefully we'll see the salukis smash some crieghton arse!

tanning beds R 4 losers!

the new ad campaign for the aad. i thought it was funny, a little unrealistic and a bit on the cheesy side. click on the print ad to see the 60 second commercial. will update on the rest of the trip when we get home. one more day in the big city!

$5.70

we made it. flew out of bloomington yesterday around 6. made it to detroit with about 20 minutes to catch our connecting flight. ran across the airport, i actually broke out in a sweat, the thought. plus i was wearing compression stockings from a leg vein procedure, so my feet were numb by the time we arrived. the plane had to be de-iced. the first time either one had seen it done. pretty cool.

no time to eat a bite. $2 for a snack size pringles and $2 for trail mix on the plane. hit some turbulance. my fear of flying is getting worse. i'm white-knuckling the arm rests when i hear the little kids behind us yell, "whoa, wh-oa, there's something wrong with the plane, whoa!" i just started smiling. these 3 and 4 year-olds were so fearless, thought it was just a bumpy ride. i turn back a few minutes later and one's fast asleep. i so wish i could do that.

we arrive 25 minutes late. we wait for our bags, i call adrian to find out where everyone is. "club fur" he texts me. "last call at 11." aaron had decided we were going to take the metro instead of a shuttle or cab. $1.35 each. he forgot to print out how to get to christi's apt building after we got off the metro. so we're walking around the downtown area for 30 minutes. it's sleeting, we're lugging around suitcases and i'm starving. we finally make it to the apt where the front desk guy was not so friendly and completely clueless. after another 10 minutes figuring out where our room key was and getting the second key, we finally open the doors and crash. it's a cool little set up we have here. a hotel room but better, we even have a washer/dryer. corporate apartments rule.

i have to meet adrian, jennifer and irina for lunch at union station in a few. i best get my groove on.

d.c. bound

in a matter of hours we're off to d.c. not permanently, sterno! aaron's huge academy of derm. meeting is out there once again. so you know what that means...samples galore! this year we opted not to pay for me to hit up the exhibit booths. thought aaron could handle this one on his own. last year we paid and honestly it wasn't worth it. exhibitors act like you're the plague if you don't have the m.d. to sell or promote their products. little do they know, it's the spouses that know more about the cosmetic part of derm. at least around these parts. aaron could care less about the advances in loreals anti-aging cream or lancomes new juicy tubes. (i probably have that backwards) the newest surgical scissors or histo equipment now you've got his undivided attention.

it is nice to walk away with all that booty. we stock up on lotions, bath gels, shampoo for the year. i can't even remember the last time i actually bought lotion or sunscreen. be ready family, you're in for some skincare treats.

got memories

i had started a memory box for my grandpa soon after he died in 2002. i stuck a few old photos here and there and told myself i'd revisit it later. when brian came to visit last week he saw it and thought it was a great idea. i looked at it again, pretty pathetic. i decided to jazz it up this week and in doing so asked aaron if he'd like one for his mom. of course he said yes. so here are my first attempts at scrapbooking or scrapboxing. for donna's i used buttons and ribbon from her sewing room. for my grandpa's i used old hardware from an old jewelry box my grandma kept that my dad made for her. it's all in the family!

it's like, you know!

a little late but better than never

1. exercise (after we get back from d.c. i'm hitting the gym full force)

2. strike the word "like" and "you know" from my verbal vocabulary (i use it, like, way too much, at least according to my husband. last week i was hanging out with jamie and simon copied something i said. i knew something had to be done.)

3. fix my bad, bad sleeping habits.

4. get pregnant (ha, i thought this would be easy, but it's a little more difficult than i predicted. 28, 26, 31...stupid, irregular numbers)

return of camel toe

i think the photo says it all!

online craziness

www.photoboothstl.com/events

westphal wedding 1/20/07

password: wed20

i noticed not a single one of aaron's aunts or uncles on the westphal side utilized the booth and all of my family abused it. a testament to the origins of our personalities?

whirlwind weekend

yes, it's finally over. yesterday i put brian and irina on a plane back to maryland and today i'm cleaning up the mess left after the whirlwind weekend. i must say, i was very happy with the outcome of the reception. the only thing i probably won't do again is have a plated dinner. it sucks to have payed for meals that weren't eaten. it just seemed so wasteful, but there's always circumstances beyond anyones control.

the photobooth was probably the best idea we had. that and the open bar. i took my copies over to jamie's yesterday and forgot them, otherwise i'd scan them for your viewing pleasure. i just wrote the photobooth guy and asked when the photos would be posted online. i should be getting an answer shortly and i'll let you know when i do. i'll also post the link for everyone when i get it. i can't wait to see the debauchery that occured and am glad it was documented for prosperity.

thanks to everyone who attended. we had a blast and loved having you there! i'm trying to convince aaron we should do it again, maybe for cinco de mayo or veterans day. we don't need no stinking special occassion to rock out, just you!

to the point!

ever gotten an email without a single exclamation mark? especially one that's four to five paragraphs long explaining how excited they are about a certain situation? i don't know why this is bugging me but it is. so much so, that i've brought it up countless times in conversation. (who doesn't use an exclamation point when describing a lottery win?) i know i'm overreacting, reading too much into nothing. (maybe they're not as happy as i thought.) it's just funny the little things i notice.

on the other hand, i probably overuse the sucker and people think i'm ecstatic about everything. i guess it's a give and take relationship. i'll use it excessively and you won't use it at all.

prozac nation

aaron's gone this weekend. in sunny orlando learning the intricacies of cosmetic surgery/procedures. so i've been flying solo this weekend. he's on his way home now, from 75 degrees to 30 degrees. needless to say, i don't feel sorry for him! ;)

friday i hung out with jamie and we watched a little tv. i feel like i'm corroding her mind with the shows i watch. we ended up watching two episodes of what not to wear. i keep telling myself it's somewhat educational, but who am i kidding.

saturday i went over to katie and adrian's and we had a little dinner and watched an episode of the office. we also played a little trivial pursuit. i ended up borrowing 3 movies. prozac nation and darkness. both movies were so-so. nothing really to write about. i did watch donnie darko again, it definitely needed a second viewing. it made much more sense the second time around.

this week i've got to start and finish reception prep. labeling favors, creating placecard settings and guestbook pages. i've been putting it off. i've also got to clean up the guest room so brian and irina have a place to crash when they're here next weekend. i'm excited about the reception, but at the same time i hate being the center of attention. it's a love hate relationship.

quote of the day

"I turned down Harvard to go to University of Illinois just because I'm that cool. And because that's where a lot of my friends are going."

—danny westphal

boney bum

once in a while i help jamie out with the simon and hayden. this week they had to get their second round of the flu shot so she asked if i'd tag along and offer assistance. apparently the receptionists aren't too friendly if you're the least bit late. last time we were 5 minutes late and we were not received well, this time we pulled into the parking garage on time. little simon, as cute as he is, is perhaps the slowest kid i know. (i'm sure all kids are slow but most are on wheels a.k.a. strollers.)

i scoop him up and start crossing the breezeway at a faster pace with him on my hip.

"can you put me higher? it doesn't feel good," he says.

"what? am i too boney?" i ask.

"yeah, you're too boney."

i swing him around to my back.

"still too boney," he says.

i guess i need to put a little more junk in the trunk. at least according to a 3-year-old.

the stealth of meter maids

i had a meeting with the wow lady today in st. louis. i get there and park right beside the building so i can see my automobile from the office. i feed the meter 30 cents for 24 minutes of parking time. last time i was there, i was pretty much in and out. so i'm thinking this should be more than enough. nadia's running behind. she offers me a drink while i wait. 10 minutes pass.

"should i feed the meter?" i ask.

"yeah, probably a good idea." she tells me.

since i can see my car, i chance it. if i see a meter maid coming i'll run out and drop some coin. another 5 minutes and i have her undivided attention. we go over details with me occasionally looking over my shoulder. nothing in sight. get done in 15 minutes and i'm out the door.

as nadia lets me out. (they lock the doors after they let you in or out of the building. another reason why i didn't want to run out there.) two meter maids walk by. did i luck out? i get to my car and i don't see anything under my washer blade. sweet. they must have been metering the main street and not the side streets. i pull out and take off down the street. as soon as i pick up speed, i notice something flapping in the far right corner. damn it!

moral: 5 cents could have saved me $10. and the meter maids of st. louis operate on the sly.

photobooth madness

aaron and i rented a photobooth for the reception and we have the option of choosing one of the following layouts.

we can choose black and white or color, and one, three, or four poses. the one and three pose options leave you with space to customize.

One pose option:

Three pose option:

Four pose option:

i'm partial to the black and white three pose combo. now we have to decide if we want the date of our reception or the date of the actual wedding. decisions, decisions.

never surprised...

...okay, maybe once in a while.

i can't remember how the discussion came about. i brought up the 911 call and how, in my opinion, it's a legitimate phone call. basically i was telling him how any thing you can think of, there's someone out there crazy enough to be doing it.

"look at the dance floor, i bet there's someone out there with some freaky secret going on underneath those fancy clothes. maybe the nipples cut out of their tanktop or a guy wearing a leapord thong."

"next time we go camping i'm going to cut out my nipples and take off my shirt and act like nothings weird," he tells me.

"that would be hilarious, and i'll act like it's totally normal too!"

3 hours go by.

i look back and this is what i see...




what the hell.

did i put my foot in my mouth and mark's really a freak in levis?!? nope, he just wanted to freak me out sooner than later.

keeping mom happy

every time we head east my mother insists we take a family photo. this year was no different. i've already gotten two comments on it. one my brother resembles an asian jimmy fallon and two aaron looks very powder-like. the only complaint i have, for some reason they didn't center the photos. along with the group photos we took individual photos and they cut off someones foot in each of the photos.

we're back home and have a jam packed month ahead of us.