should i be concerned...

that i am addicted to the show "intervention"?
seriously, its an intervention marathon on A & E and I can't stop watching it
we have watched it all day long on tivo, so we can fast forward through the irritating commercials

we also had an hour long video conference with nancy. her and glennda and kim got us a web cam so that when we talk to each other on sundays, we can see each other. it's really nice but i get a bit caught up in looking at myself on the little box. anywho it was lots of fun and she got to see our cats and we got to see batu. i guess nala was busy sleeping downstairs on the berber carpeting.

so right before the holidays, i headed to chicago to see alyson, nicole, rowan, and meet their new baby boy finn. i also got to see azad and meet his new girlfriend sam. and i got to see erin (which was a nice surprise b/c i didn't know i would). so the first night i got there, nicole's mom had sent them this thing where she put pictures of their faces on these elves dancing. rowan was entranced by it. here she is on the computer. how adorable:



and here is one of the whole family:



that night we had a big dinner with everyone: aly, nik, ro, finn, erin, azad and sam. we had delicious salmon tacos and green beans. it was SO GOOD. and it was really fun to have everyone together, like a mini chicago family reunion. here is a picture of az, sam and ro:



and here is one of me, erin, finn & ro:



and here is one of just erin and me:



while i was there we hung out, played games (rowan taught me the game "princess and the squid"-- i was the squid, she was the princess), we even went sledding. it was so fucking cold while i was there. i mean i *know* its cold in chicago, but seriously it was bonkers cold and snowing, which of course, was great for sledding. rowan's was a total champ. i would wait at the top of the hill, she would come up and then we would get her situated and i would push her down the hill. when she got to the bottom, i would jump up and down cheering and she would give me a thumbs up and head back up the hill. it was a lot of fun.

Another night I made Italian wedding soup and we all just hung out and ate. Finn had on the cutest Illinois shirt ever. Check it out:



one morning, alyson and i drove out to a western suburb of chicago to see my gramma. she has gotten sicker and sicker over the past two years and my mom's siblings decided to put her into a nursing home. its run by some seriously catholic folks, so i was a little worried they were going to give me grief, but they didn't. i was real nervous and i didn't know what to expect b/c the last time i saw her was at my aunt dee dee's funeral and she was real out of it. it was real sad to see her, in a wheelchair, unable to speak. i didn't know if she would know who i was, but i think she recognized me. when i said who i was, and who my mom was, she started sort of laughing and shaking her head like "yes." we talked for a little while, well really i talked at her and i showed her pictures of my sister and her family and she seemed to like those too. i am not sure when i will see her again, so i took a picture of her. one thing that i loved is that she still had purple fingernail polish on. her favorite color is purple:



as sad as i was, i am glad i went. and even if she didn't really know exactly who i was, she at least got a visitor for a little while.

i spent one night at azad's house too. his apartment is so beautiful and he brings me platters with tea and little bowls of yummy things like candied ginger and nuts and i took a nap in the sunshine while he took a shower. on my last day we all went out to breakfast, which was wonderful and then we went back to azad's to just hang out until i had to catch my plane. az showed alyson and nicole his lovely jewelry that he makes and i think they bought a few of these rings:



we also did a little photo shoot. here is one of alyson, nicole and finn (ro was at school):



and here is one of az and me in front of his tree:



it was great to see all the folks i love and to meet finn and az's girlfriend sam. finn is a sweet baby and very happy and chunky. i loved just holding him or dancing with him. it took me my whole trip to figure out that he kept urping on me b/c of the way i was sitting with him. he doesn't have much of a waist right now so i would sit him up and it kind of put stress on his belly and it made him urp. once i got that he preferred to recline a little more (actually nicole suggested it) he seemed a lot happier. i miss all of them already and i am not sure when i will get back to chicago. i just hope its warmer when i visit next time.

ok more intervention is calling my name.
happy new year!

number 118

hi all

this is my 118th post of this blog
and if i can swing it, it will be the first of THREE THREE THREE today
i had hoped to get blogging sooner but i just can't get it together
i think its a mixture of jet lag, recovery from a tattoo yesterday and many injections of kitty sleepy serum
right now larry is laying on my belly in front of the computer (thus making it a challenge to type) while emily is next to me curled in a teeny tiny ball. horace just walked past my legs with a bit of a scowl. just like him.

ok so what started out to be a miserable cold and FOGGY morning (i know this b/c i was doing payroll at my job at 9am) has turned out to be a clear and sunny day. not sure if it is warm outside. its pretty cold in the apartment but sometimes that happens.

so let me tell you briefly about a little swaree (how do you spell that?) we went to before the celebration of the birth of baby jesus. this party was to celebrate the birth of kristina of "emma and kristina." they had a holiday, happy birthday and house warming party and we swung by there after having a nice dinner at wahoo with jes's folks for her dad's bday. we got there right before the pecan pie was brought out (YAHOOO). they threw some pretty candles up in it and we began to sing. here is a picture of kristina cheering for her cake while emma holds it:



while i did not have a piece of that pie that night, we did get lots of left overs from them b/c they were leaving town and we were the last folks at the party. that's right. that's how we roll: shutting the place dizzown. anywho the pecan pie was divine. after pie/cake, they opened some presents. as a housewarming present, emma got a shrimp cookbook. she loves the seafood. here she is doing the universal sign for shrimp:



i am pretty sure this will be the last time the four of us hang out for a while because emma is with her family for a few more days and kristina is going to africa and jes is heading back to brooklyn to finish her last semester of law school (yes i will be bacherloring it up REAL SOON-- no me gusta) so we did a little photo shoot with the four of us. here is one of them:



oh yeah, i got my hair cut a few weeks ago. i guess this is the first picture of it. still trying to figure out how to fix it. i know this much: it looks a lot better dirty than it does clean.

ok this concludes post number uno. stay tuned for numero dos. jes just got back from lunch with will and we are going to begin our intervention marathon.

one more thing

i got a couple of pictures of little baby harvey
(becky & kami's new baby girl):






how cute it she?

thanksgiving in colorado and thereafter

i am still behind yall
seriously, i think once i am done teaching things will ease up a bit.
at least that is what i am telling myself.
anywho, i know it is weeks later, but lemme tell you about thanksgiving.

we went to see my sister, her husband greg and their son (my favorite nephew) ben.
not only were we spending turkey time with them, thanksgiving thursday was also ben's birthday
so really it was a two for one.

our flight to colorado was pretty uneventful. we left hella early so we were tired, but what was great is that the flight was not so full so both jes and i got to get our own row and catch some zzz's.
when i woke up i sat back up with her and we watched an episode of "dexter" on my ipod jes got me for graduation.
first of all, love my ipod that lets me watch video, second of all, love "dexter." seriously, it's a show about a guy who kills people (only bad people) but kills them nonetheless, and i love it. at times it can be heavy headed and the acting isn't always great, but in general, i can't wait to watch the next episode.

our first day there we just hung out and relaxed.

on thursday morning we got up and ben opened his presents and then we spent the entire day cooking.
we made mashed potatoes, sweet potato caserole, green beans, and stuffing muffins. we also helped kath with turkey which was ginormous. folks were coming over at 4pm and we almost got everything done before they started arriving. kath had invited a bunch of her friends and most of them have kids and/or are pregnant. after i finished eating, i got to hold a six week old baby girl while her mom ate. she was perfect and tiny and a little bit gassy. good times!

after dinner and perhaps too much wine, i went upstairs just to "lay down for a minute" which quickly turned into a two hour nap. i woke up and everyone was gone. it was totally bonkers. we watched ratatouille, which is actually a pretty good kids movie. i recommend it.

on friday greg, ben, my mom and i all went to "the jumping place" while kath stayed home (she didn't feel great) and so did jes (she needed to study for finals). it was a pretty fun place and much less crowded than i thought it would be. its basically all these blown up huge toy things you just bounce around on. here is a picture of ben before we started a jumpin:



i also didn't expect that all that bouncing and climbing would wear me out like it did. i was a huffing and a puffing all through the joint. i think what it made clear to me is that i need to get back on some cardio and pronto. i was able to catch my breath while greg and ben played a little air hockey:



and here is a picture of me and ben just kicking it:



now we got ben two presents for his birthday: a pair of spidey pj's with webs under the arms. please see the photo below:



while he looks pretty happy about them here, he was not so crazy about them when he opened them, but he was THRILLED for present #2: an optimus prime (transformer) toy. kath and greg's mom have been searching for this toy for a long time and we found it (VICTORY!) he was really happy to get it but also a bit frustrated by the process of transforming it. i really couldn't help him, but jes could b/c she had transformers when she was a kid. he carried it around with him the entire day, it was kind of cute. that night we watched the movie "transformers" which was pretty entertaining.

like i said a couple of the ladies at thanksgiving and one of those ladies is my sister. from the back you can't really tell she is pregnant, but from the side you can:



she is due in february, so stay tuned for the birth of my OTHER favorite nephew!

saturday morning we got up and headed to the airport for another early flight. before we left, we took a few last photos:





i wish i could say the flight home was uneventful like the flight out to colorado, but i can't.

about ten minutes into the flight, the "fasten seatbelt" light went off and a woman two seats in front of me got up and started walking toward the bathroom. when she got one seat behind mine she began vomiting in the aisle. instead of continuing to the bathroom, she just stood in the aisle and kept puking. i pushed the flight attendant light and they came a running and immediately threw down some packets of coffee to deal with the smell (so smart, right?). the next hour was spent cleaning up the mess and tending to the sick lady (who seemed pretty out of it). the good news? we got free tv b/c she threw up near us. the bad news? a little of her hurl splattered on my jacket. i promptly took it off and put it in my bag. while it was a little scary during it, we totally laugh about it now.

the night we got back, sarah and kim came over for a little wii and mexican dominoes. neither of them had played wii but i think they both really liked it. especially the boxing. here is a picture of them bringing the heat:



they also taught us how to play mexican dominoes. it was this really fun. i was super apprehensive about learning the game, and while i don't think i had the best strategery, i still had a lot of fun and i drank a lot of wine, but it was good wine, so i had fun doing it.

on sunday we got up and i noticed that larry was kind of breathing weird. i didn't think too much of it. on monday i went to work and jes called me there and said she thought that we should take larry in b/c his breathing was really labored. she came and got me on the way to the vet and she was really upset. i didn't get it, i assumed larry had a cold or *maybe* an upper respiratory infection or something.

we got to the vet and she agreed his breathing was weird. then she told us she could not hear his lungs so good on one side and ordered a chest xray. a few minutes later she came back with the xray and told us we needed to go to these specialists outside of the perimeter (read: far away in traffic and in the land of suv's and coach purses). she told us that the xray showed either a lot of fluid in his chest or a mass (read: cancer). jes and i were both stunned. we got our referral and directions to the specialists and hit the road.

while he was sort of panting, larry seemed normal otherwise. he had been eating, sleeping, peeing and pooping, so we just didn't understand what was going on. long story short: we finally talk to the emergency doctor there and she tells us she is almost certain its a cancerous mass and there is nothing we can do (outside of thoracic surgery and/or chemotherapy). jes and i just took turns losing our shit. she said they would drain the fluid from his chest and then in the morning, the internal medicine doc on duty would do an ultrasound of larry's thorax. all this costs loads of money and guaranteed nothing. it was one of the worst nights of our lives. when we left we both thought we were coming back in the morning to put larry down.

the next day at work was the worst. everytime the fucking phone rang i was sure it was the doctor telling me larry had died. by 2pm he had not called and i was about to lose it, so i called and they couldn't tell me shit except the doctor was going to call me after he finished the tests. one the one hand, jes and i were furious b/c they were leaving us hanging for so fucking long. on the other hand, we figured if he was really bad they would have called us first thing. finally at 3pm the doctor called me and told me that he was certain it WAS NOT a mass (this was very good news) but that he thought larry has restrictive cardiomyopathy which really means congestive heart failure and/or heart disease. now in the long run, this sucks b/c it means his life span will probably be shorter than we thought. in the short run it means that larry is still alive and kicking, he is taking a diuertic to keep the fluid out of his chest cavity and some heart medication to help his heart pump right. right this second he is getting a bath from his sister while sitting on jes's lap.

we went to the cardiologist on thursday to have her check his chest and take some blood. his chest looked great: no fluid! but his kidney levels are really high b/c of the meds he is taking. unfortunately, when it comes to kitties, drugs that are good for the heart are not so good for the kidneys. because larry and emily are older (17 years old!) they are both in the beginning stages of kidney failure. while we are both alarmed by his kidney levels, our vet here in decatur said we need to focus on his health now, and enjoy every day he is with us. so that is what we are trying to do. just love him and hug him and kiss him as much as we can.

here are some cute pics of him post emergency vet visit. he has a few shaved spots that are so cute:



and here is one of larry with his #1 lovah:



i am not joking when i say that he is seriously crazy in love with her.

ok this has been a long ass post yall. i need to rest and drink a glass of wine.
today was so gorgeous. seriously like late spring/early summer gorgeous. in the 70's and sunny.
i walked to the gym at school and i was like "oy i love the south!"
i hope you had a great sunday wherever you are.

birthday

i am blogging while watching "intervention" on tivo
this show makes me never want to do drugs or drink ever again
for reals
it is stunning what folks do for the addicts in their life
i know i don't understand it because its not my life, but seriously. i don't understand it.

anywho, on to happier things: jes's bday.
on the night of her bday, jes and i went and got this delicious tapas dinner
i mean seriously everything was so good.
i really liked the patatas bravas with romesco sauce
and of course i loved the olives (aceitunas) and roasted almonds.
their sangria was really good too.

after dinner, we went over to emma and kristina's to hang out with some folks, eat some cupcakes and play wii
it was so much fun. first of all, they have this really amazing house. and it is all set up so nice and pretty.
they put up streamers all over the house and bought these really cute pirate candles for the cupcakes.
here is a picture of some folks before the wii smackdown began:



christina and jes were up first with boxing. they both did an outstanding job.
both were old pros at it, so it was a pretty close fight. i don't remember who won, but here is a picture of them going at it:



now emma, kristina, dawn and nikki had not yet played wii. jes, christina and i were pros (and by pros i mean we have played before). nikki and emma either boxed or played tennis, either way, here they are working it out. i love how intense they both look:



most of us were sweating, and all of us were sore the next day, but a good time was had by all. here is a picture of the gang. what a good looking bunch, no?



big thanks to emma and kristina for letting us play at their house
it was so much fun
ok its getting late and i need to stop looking at this computer.

tomorrow is our six year anniversary.
can you believe it? i have been in love with jes for SIX YEARS!
i am so lucky.

i know i know

it's been way too long
but i swear i have a number of good reasons why.
i have a bunch of stuff to update you on, so i am going to try and do it, bird by bird.

first off, many weeks ago, we went and visited ali in columbus, ohio.
it was divine
we got to stay in her lovely new home that is so cozy and clean and perfect.
we also got to see our niece and nephew (cats) nala and batu.

here is a picture of each of them respectively:





it was such a fun and relaxing weekend. we did some shopping at easton (its like a huge shopping town. so bonkers). we also got to watch the ohio state vs. university of illinois football game. both are my alma mater, so i didn't really care who won. pretty much everyone watching the game with us was for ohio state. illinois won. not only was it fun to watch the game, we also got to eat some delicious food. here is a picture of jes and ali cooking something up. maybe fake pigs in a blanket:



we ate like kings and drank some beers. it was so much fun. it was jes, ali, becky, kami and me. we kept joking with kami (who was very very pregnant the day we watched the game) that she couldn't go into labor until after the game and that it would be great if she had her baby the weekend we were there. she actually DID go into labor that night, but didn't have the baby until the next day, i think. it took a long time, but finally baby harvest lila came into the world. i have not yet seen a picture, but i bet she is perfect.

so here, in this picture the two on the left, kami and becky are MOMS! and then that's ali and me. GO BUCKEYES:



on saturday night, we went to this new bar called "east village." it's a gay bar and it used to be called union station. earlier i posted a pic of jes and ali with frou frou drinks, that was at east village. after east village, we went to one of our old stomping grounds, the largest lesbo bar in OHIO yall, yup, you guessed it, wall street. not much has changed there really. though i feel like music is better. less 4 non blondes and melissa etheridge mega mixes and more contemporary stuff like kanye west and nelly furtado. actually, when her song "promiscious girl" came on, me and ali re-enacted a time when her and this colleague from the women's studies program got up on the risers (b/c they were drunkadoozles) and got funky.

here is it is in stages:

stage 1: we prepare ourselves for the hilarity that will ensue:



now i wore my ohio state shirt (that i had purchased at easton in the "buckeye corner" store) so that i would blend at the bar. next ali and i prepare to stand up on the riser. now remember, when this really happened oh so many years ago, it was ali and another woman and they were really getting their freak on. here is stage 2:



ali was so stunned by my "moves" that she never quite made it out of stage 2. here is my stage 3:



and lastly, VICTORY! i am up on the riser, people in the crowd (read: the other ten lesbos in the bar) were cheering me on (for reals, how funny is that) and nancy was frozen, perhaps entranced by my crazy dance moves. or she was laughing so hard she feared if she stood up she would pee her pants. thank heavens for jes's steady hand with the camera:

i give you, stage 4:



after that we left and went home and watched some tv in ali's cozy tv room downstairs. it was a really great trip and i can't wait until we can go back again.

ok then that is one post down, three to go! holla.