Thursday Dinner

We missed the free 5:30 shot but hung out for a minute and enjoyed the view!

The patio looking back

Dinner!

Totally fun centerpiece!

Squishy water balls from the centerpiece

PIP Story Telling!!!

Me and Barb-- she's a PIP now! 

Peg Kramer Crawford, PIP, and too funny!

The PIP Story Telling was probably one of my favorite things all week-- Peg Kramer Crawford is without a doubt, one of the funniest people I've ever met! I wish Blogger would work so I could upload her story about going to Canada twice for chapter installations; there's intrigue, breaking international law, defrauding the Canadian Government, and a plunger. 

At least

At least Friday wasn't a total loss-- I finished sorting paperwork for afterschool, put the finishing touches on the database, cleaned out ALL THE OLD PAPERWORK! since we were drowning in paperwork for kids who hadn't been there in two years, organized the immunization forms and created a binder for immunization compliance, and then balanced out the ledgers and started working on a new program which will send out weekly invoices to notify people of balances and credits.

Woohoo!

Last night, I went over and hung out with the K's and was happy to see Violet doing much better than last week and playing in the coolest toy ever that Michael bought yesterday morning. It's big and clunky as far as toys go, but she looooves that thing-- it's bouncy and has lights and sounds and things she can spin, it's her new favorite thing! Julian had his usual Friday night meltdown, but it's pretty much expected at this point, so we just wait for it to happen, toss him in the bath, and put him to bed; usually about half an hour to an hour before his actual bed time. This week, the fit was about a) wanting the cherry Meg had and b) wanting a new napkin since Sarah had taken his to clean up the Mac'n'Cheese he accidentally threw at her. Sarah and I try not to laugh, obviously it's a behavioural issue and we know it would be really irritating if we had to live with it, but when Meg tells him not to splash in the bath and he goes, "Mommy noooooooo, it hurts my feeeeeeelings!" we can't help but crack up! We also hope that he grows out of it, because otherwise he's gonna get beat up a lot on the playground...

Today I'm hoping to get some stuff cleaned up and put away so that there's less stuff in my room for when Jeremy gets here (which is ironic since I spent the rest of my summer trying to get things out of the garage and up here!) so he can fit in. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my closet-- I have so many clothes!! I may have to hit up Target for some cheap storage bins to stick some stuff in the garage. I'm not sure how much he's keeping here or sending back to Southaven, so we'll see. I know we made some room for him down there, too.

Tomorrow, Richard and I are going shopping for snacks, office supplies, and some small games stuff, and then Monday morning we're working through the day to get ready for Monday afternoon. Wheee....

I am amused

SSA's top 20 Names List for 2008

Now, I realize this is THIS years list, but still. I have multiples of all but an Emma, Madison, and Chloe from the top ten. And for the boys, I don't have any Christophers, but have multiples of almost all the rest in the top twenty.

One of those days...

It's strange, I never really have those days where I sit down and look at my life and think, "Man, this isn't all that bad after all!" but today I kinda did. Work's been getting me down lately, as I'm sure you could tell, but I'm glad I had a good night tonight-- I could sit down and look at my photos from this weekend with a clear head and realize that I'm really lucky to have the life I do.

Living in Decatur is an absolute privilege, one I hope to give my child/ren some day, and one of the things its given me is access to a strong learning community and one that appreciates literature. Two of my favorite authors, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, came to the Decatur Public Library this weekend, and Jeremy got to go with me. They write popular novels, but are both very intelligent, very funny, and very witty. Their talk was great and then they signed books and took pictures!

This one's a little blurry, Jeremy was holding the camera weird, but from L to R is Lincoln Child, me, and Douglas Preston! I've been reading Preston's books since I was in middle school!!

After that, we walked around the square and looked at the artists booths, and we stopped in this great little shop called Taste on the back side of the square. LOVE that store so much. If you're local, you can get me a gift certificate there any time!! We poked around there a little extra because it started *pouring* down rain and we didn't have an umbrella, but Jeremy found some yummy chow chow to take back for his sandwiches and I found the most hilarious card to send to Shelby-- a print of Barack taking his presidential oath with the caption, "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear to turn this mother out."

We wandered back to the car, and since I hadn't been able to get in touch with Meg or Michael, I decided we'd "swing by" (shoulda known better!) before going home to take a nap. We got there and Michael was hanging out with Sarah (a girl Meg and I went to high school with, but I haven't seen in who knows how many years!) and trying to get Vi to sleep and Julian was running around... being Julian. He took to Jeremy like nobody's business (not surprising, kids LOVE Jeremy) and took him on the grand tour of Casa de Julian and the costumes in his closet and all his toys. We fed Julian Altoids to see his reaction and he actually liked them, then he attacked Michael like a wild man, then he decided he was going to play with Jeremy some more and continued to use him as a jungle gym. Meg and I decided he's going to be one of those grandads all the little ones use as a jungle gym whether he's actively participating or not. Then we walked up to dinner and met Meg's mom and her sister Della-- The Matador in Oakhurst was pretty decent, and not too expensive. It waited until we got inside to start raining and didn't rain on us on the way home.

Today, I went up to Apres Diem for lunch and to see Adam and Erin in from Seattle. There were, of course, tons of other people there for fantastic company and the food was to die for-- and totally one-upped Fresh Slices which is a little funny. Apres Diem is a chic type tapas place in Midtown Atlanta, and their sandwiches range from about $8-10. With these sandwiches come a side salad AND home fries, whereas at Fresh Slices you don't necissarily get fries, even! Anyway, I got to see Aihanh and Igal, and Greg was there with his new girlfriend, and Hetal and Hugh and some other Tech people I vaguely know. Erin was asking about where Jeremy and I would be when he was done with school and it turns out... they have a house they're trying to rent! It's a three bedroom, soon to be two bath, and while it's not in the bestest area ever, we could get it for about $900 a month! And since we'd know the landlords, we could probably do most anything we like to the house which would keep Jeremy busy and would be at least half funded so we could afford to do it! Yaaay!

So, uploading those pictures to Facebook and Flickr, I looked at my life and realized that there are some really amazing people in my life-- I have a fiancee I love and sometimes still can't believe, there are a couple of pretty cute kids who think I'm swell and I love them to death, I'm re-acquainting myself with friends from high school who are wonderful people, and I feel kind of like I'm a part of a big family here, which is what's so great about Decatur in the first place. We'll be a little farther away, about 20 minutes, if we're at Adam and Erin's place, but we'll still be ITP and we'll have room for folks to stay the night which they just might.

Memphis was where I lived for five years, and I think I almost forgot what home meant while I was there. Now, I'm remembering it and I couldn't be happier.

Ciao for now.

What a weekend!

I'll just give a quick rundown of the weekend since I've told the story a few times now...

Thursday was the girls' preformal (date party) and the theme was Storybook Couples/Characters. My favorite was India and Houston who came as Calvin and Hobbes!

India's tummy was furry and she kept asking me to pet it, which was kind of hilarious. I also met Houston (her boyfriend) for the first time; he's a really sweet kid and I had fun talking beer and some academics with him. The girls were very well-behaved, but someone's date got way out of control and started a fight with the bouncer! I had to step in at one point, and was apparently pretty scary which is good-- it means word will get around that you don't screw up at an AOII event anymore! The girls are always great, but their dates have ruined stuff for them so many times, it's just not going to happen now that I'm here! The place we went to was called Cypress Pint and Plate. It was pretty good, but definitely on the pricey side-- they charged on average $2-3 more a beer than we do at Palate! $10 for a Hitachino White? Whaaaat? The food was pretty good, though, and the atmosphere was very well constructed. I wouldn't mind going down on a Monday night for their twenty cent wings and buying a couple beers then. After I broke up the fight with the bouncer, I came home and couldn't sleep because I was so wound up/ticked off. I wrote the chapter an e-mail explaining that I knew it wasn't their fault, but they needed to impart to their dates the severity of the punishment should they screw up on Friday at formal.

Friday we were on the Henry Grady River Boat at Stone Mountain for formal and it was AWESOME!! The girls and their dates were the most well behaved Greek organization the security folks could remember, and not only did we get our security deposit back, they actually *wanted* us to come back next year! The weather held out and was perfect-- nary a cloud in the sky and the moon was full and high in the sky, we couldn't have asked for anything better. I wore one of my grandmother's dresses, a really cute vintage number from the '40s. Everyone loved it, and so did I. I'm fairly set on having vintage dresses for my nice events from now on, they fit better and are just so pretty and so well made. They're quite expensive, though, so I'm thinking that it might be easier on my pockets to buy the vintage Vogue patterns and use similar materials.
Above is the view from the riverboat just before sunset of the forest surrounding the mountain.

Today was Susie's bridal shower, which was lots of fun. There was a woman there who is a "grace period" foster mother and I think maybe once Jeremy and I settle in and have our own who's a bit older, I'd like to do it, too. All you do is take in babies who are given up for adoption for the 10-20 day grace period Georgia gives a mother to change her mind so that the adoptive family doesn't have the baby and then get it taken away just as they've gotten it. All told, this woman's had 75!! She had her newest one who was only two weeks old with her, she got passed around and was a little shocked at the number of people there. Everyone was great fun, and my Mancala and Jenga went over well with Susie who loves those games as much as I do :) Her bachelorette party is in a couple weeks, I think, and should be a blast. I'm so excited to get to know Susie better, and Joanna as well-- I think we're all going to be really good friends. And it's appropriate, really, since Emily and I are very close now and met through a mutual friend, that I should be good friends with people I have met through her!

Work tonight was rough for a while, but not too bad-- and I really like working with Peter. If Shale gets in to medical school and heads on up to Philly, I'll probably talk to Jill about picking up Saturdays; they're a good money-making night and Peter and I just get along really well.

I'm so exhausted and have finally wound down enough to fall asleep maybe, so I'll leave you with a picture from my last trip to Florida-- my favorite billboard ever. Heck yeah, Chick'fil'A.

For old time's sake

Because everyone loves this stuff




Also, La Fheile Padraig!! Erin go Bragh!

Change is in the Air

Last night was an amazing experience, and I feel more than any other time in my life that I have been a part of making history. Here in Decatur, fireworks shot off, people were dancing in the streets (no, really, not just another song lyric), hugging strangers, it was an amazing night. I think we feel really connected to this moment here in Atlanta because we are the birthplace of Martin Luther King, JR. and, rightfully, the entirety of Metro Atlanta went blue for Barack. Ebeneezer Baptist Church celebrated through the night, Dr. King's home church.

I hope, so fervently, that this means better things for our country. I know some extreme conservatives who are still convinced he's a socialist Muslim terrorist, but I really don't think that's the case. I think that, like everyone who believes in him, he wants this country fixed. We've been scared and hateful for the last eight years, turning away from each other when we ought to have been lifting one another up. This is the rhetoric of hope, love, and charity (which, correct me if I'm wrong Jimmy, is a keystone of Corinthians) which is foreign to us at this juncture in time. John McCain's concession speech was beautiful and graceful, even if his supporters decided to be real buttheads and boo and interrupt him, and was a true show of bipartisanship. He knows that this is the change our country needs, and he intends to stand behind President Obama and help effect that change-- to get us back to glory. If you missed either of their speeches, you can find them in whole on MSNBC (to the left of the main images). I encourage you to watch both-- they are both incredibly important speeches, and darn well written at that.

Moving on (though I'm still not entirely sure what to do with myself...), not much has happened since getting back from Florida. I've been doing my best to keep Jeremy company on the phone, he's been really bored with nothing to do, and doing my best to keep applying for jobs. I think this afternoon will include a trip to Sushi Avenue for a lunch special and then sitting down to apply for more jobs. I'm hoping that now the election's over, people will start hiring again. The election always screws things up anyway, and the fact that the economy stank to begin with certainly didn't help!

I spent the election coverage generally with Comedy Central-- CNN got on my nerves pretty quickly-- the maps, graphs, holograms, charts, lists, and other computerized crap was insane! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING, WOLF! I stuck around on the off chance James Carville threw something at him, but that didn't happen and then Campbell Brown started talking, so I was pretty much out at that point. Instead, I showed my mom the Weekend Update clip with the map. It was pretty much the EXACT SAME THING that the dude on CNN was doing at the same time.



It's at the 5:28 left mark. The rest of it is pretty funny, but the map is what you want.

Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart were, of course, really freakin' funny.

Well, I think that's about all I can squeeze out for this one, so I'm gonna go get dressed and walk up to the square. Ciao!