Happy Birthday Bumbee Butt Sugar Bear!

Coen,

You came to us all last year on this very date. One year ago today. Wow. Time flies but then I think of all those days before you got here when you couldn’t come fast enough so we could all make sure you were okay!

You were so tiny, so so tiny. Like a little bird. But quickly you’ve grown into a sack of flour with the cutest grin I’ve known.

Coen, you have brought an immeasurable amount of joy into my life as my nephew. A joy I have never known before. I cannot even put it into words. Your fat cheeks, your dimply thighs, that infectious giggle and oh how you smile when we walk in the door for our weekly mandatory-or-we’ll-go-nuts visits with you. You are so busy and explore everything. You cannot sit quietly because OH MY GOD THERE IS A WORLD TO SEE PEOPLE. I love that about you. Our little adventurer.

You are at a water park today with your parents and no doubt you are losing your tiny little mind at the gigantic bathtubs that you are allowed to stay in all day long that don’t require evil soap and washcloths while you’re in them. Your momma has promised 1,000 pictures and I can’t wait to see them.

So, enjoy your day Bumbee. We love you very very very much.

Love,
Aunt D.

Coen - 1 Year in pictures.

The Lombards

The Lombards came for a visit this weekend after a 3 year drought. It was a 2 day festivus filled with beer, conversation about Pantera and puking complimented with a dip that tastes exactly like hot wings. You could say it was perfection.

I've uploaded a yit-load of pics in Flickr. (Thanks Lombards, let's not wait another 3 years.)

Incidentally, if you click on the last page (page 258 or something) at the bottom, all of my Yahoo! photos merged into Flickr. Which strangely enough, includes pictures of the last time the Lombards visited. How fitting!

Why I love my family, reason #4,672

Actual text message conversation between my cousin J. and myself today after work.

My phone: "You have new picture mail!"

(I can't see it very well because my phone is Zach Morris' old cell phone from Saved By the Bell.)

ME: Sorry I can't get picture mail. Was it a pic of Lilly (their new baby)? Miss you guys.

COUSIN J: No, it was 3 deer fuckin'

ME: God damn that is awesome.

I Heart Darjeeling Limited

Let me just start by saying my sister (and brother-in-law too) is AWESOME!!! They got us free tickets to a screening and question & answer with the director Wes Anderson and actor/co-writer Jaosn Swartzman last night. I was within 6 rows of one of my favorite directors and an actor who hasn't made a movie yet that I didn't want to buy and watch 100 times.

The Darjeeling Limited, as a bonus, was a fantastic and beautifully shot and written film. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite flicks, so for me to have to sit back and think honestly if Darjeeling surpassed the RT's....that's a feat. Mr. Anderson knows exactly how to make you feel light then heavy then blindsided with emotion. Not to mention they were both very humble and funny to listen to talk bout their film.

Thanks Sis and BIL. You guys are AWESOME x 2,500. (More pics in Flickr)

One of the questions was "Why are you so awesome?" And that really is the only question I could think of too.

Border War

I had such a weird night last night. Ended up meeting Jen K. at a bar after work and stayed out until 2:00 a.m. drinking wine and talking (Jose later joined us). It was fun but then a Croatian gentleman sat with us and Jen and him argued over the Mexican-American War. Don't ask. We then moved to Garcia's for "Tacos for Democracy" and finally to Bad Dog Tavern to listen to some jazz band until they closed. Fun but strange for a Monday night.

So I'm beat today and a little hungover but thank god my bosses are both gone to a meeting all day.

However, last night perfectly sums up being friends with Jen K. and Joser. You never know what's going to happen but you can be assured it will be quite an experience.

Thank you, I'm sorry

Whenever someone sends me an email with a name in the title, a name I haven't heard in awhile I know it's bad news. So I got this in the mail today about a guy I used to know in High School:

"As some of you no longer around here might want to know, Erik Stuckey passed away last night (saturday) around 10pm. Heroin overdose.Keep him in your thoughts.

Let this be a wake up call for those of you who think you're invincible.-mR.j"

Selfishly all I can think about is how I just want to thank my sister for never making me send out a similar announcement. Thank her for not being a statistic and thank her for her battle out of that darkness.

Because some are not so lucky.

If it wasn't this... it'd be something else.

When melancholy gets the best of me, I always find films that turn it around.

Hannah & Her Sisters

"Maybe is a very thin reed to hang our hopes on, but it's all we've got."

"Look at the people up there on the screen, they're so funny ... What if the worst were true, there's no God, you only go around once, and that's it? Well, don't you want to be part of the experience? It's not all a drag. I should stop ruining my life looking for answers I'm never going to get, and just enjoy myself while it lasts..."

"A week ago I bought a rifle, I went to the store - I bought a rifle! I was gonna, you know, if they told me I had a tumor, I was gonna kill myself. The only thing that might-ve stopped me - MIGHT'VE - is that my parents would be devastated. I would have to shoot them also, first. And then I have an aunt and uncle - you know - it would've been a blood bath."

Elizabethtown

"No true fiasco ever began as a quest for mere adequacy. A motto of the British Special Air Force is: 'Those who risk, win.' A single green vine shoot is able to grow through cement. The Pacific Northwestern salmon beats itself bloody on it's quest to travel hundreds of miles upstream against the current, with a single purpose, sex of course, but also...life."

"Sadness is easier because its surrender. I say make time to dance alone with one hand waving free."

"So you failed. You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you're still smiling."

Coney Sauce

Okay, I changed my mind. I want to have kids no matter what horror stories are in the news.

Unplugged

Sigh...I’ll be honest, as usual, and say that lately reading the stories of all the awful things we do to one another makes me not want to have children.

Yea, it’s the chicken way to go but it’s how I feel in this moment. What is wrong with our world? A world in which a 14-year-old thinks it’s a great idea to be able to point a gun and shoot people to kill them? Think about how much emotion that really takes? How unattached he was to the idea of taking human life. On the other side, a world in which he warns people but they are too busy or too unaffected to take notice. Do we not care? Are we so overburdened with our day-to-day meaningless activities that we cannot take a breath and help?

I’m so guilty of this as well. My main problem (and probably why my husband gets so frustrated with me) is that I really have a narrow focus. I care strongly about the people in my life and when they are affected, I get outraged. Yet, I don’t pay enough attention to the world at large. But then these things happen and I think, maybe my way is not so bad. If I noticed someone in my office despondent and enraged, I would like to think I’d talk to them. But maybe not. No one can say what they would do in that situation. But I’m starting to think that if our human race is going to survive we better all start caring about those around us a little more.

Feels like time to unplug and get our hands dirty. Talk to one another and turn off the TVs, something. Something to connect...I'm longing for it.

When monkeys fly

The lovely Matherly's were gracious enough to 1.) drive 7 hours on a Friday through construction and 2.) deal with my still drunk kareoke singing behind when they did finally pull in.

Yea, about that singing business. I'm absolutely mortified of singing in public and especially dancing unless I've had libations. So when the company rented out a bar and provided tunes on Friday (after already having beer at lunch with my boss) well, I drank 6 Coronas and sang Material Girl and Brickhouse while doing interpretive dance. I also stole my boss' nametag and went around firing people. We'll see if my cubicle is cleaned out tomorrow morning. :)

But the Matherlys....oh how I miss thee already. They came in, ate awesomely bad, let us subject them to cheap Swedish furniture and maternity shopping and then had the decency to let me talk their ear off and eat dessert in our living room (while the boys went to a concert). Of course, it wouldn't be a visit from them if it wasn't unseasonably warm. They have came all different times of the year and every single time, it's hot as balls.

So I've posted pics in Flickr and hopefully they got home in time for naps and football. Thanks for coming dudes!

Magic, without tears

I think I may have found something to write about and here goes:

Listen to these bands immediately:
Klaxons
Edit
Justice

And watch this movie:
Wings of Desire

Okay, that was fun.

Zombie Bait

Our pal Darren is leaving Chicago after over a decade for the lovely landscapes of Utah this week. To ensure he still has money coming in during those frozen tundra months, we've purchased a couple paintings and some furniture off of him.

Just when I thought I couldn't do any further design work on our place...but at least now we have all sorts of things (plus a box full of books) to remind us of his crazy wine-induced ramblings. ;)

I will be pretty absent this week (not that I have been so good about posting daily or anything) because I am taking pictures at a conference my work is hosting. I signed up because I thought, like last year, I'd get drunk with my friend Andrea and eat free food. Since she has been let go, looks like I have to focus. Project: Be More Positive At Work and In Life is going swimmingly too. Day 1.

Weight loss, eh....not so much. But I pick up some weights and a weight bench this weekend so maybe that will get me to focus more. Blah.

For fun though, I think I love watching the candidates simply for all the back-tracking. It's almost like tennis. If only arguing and lying burned calories.