art, babies, and tattoos

happy last sunday of june people

i hope this posting finds you well.

this past week flew by and kind of whupped my butt, though the weekend moved at a more leisurely pace. i think part of why the week went so fast is that i kept pretty busy. jes has bar classes, then studies all afternoon, then we come home and eat dinner, and then she studies for a few more hours at night and THEN we get to watch whatever is on the tivo.

so the challenge for me is to stay out of her way during the after dinner study session. this week i did laundry, did the grocery shopping, went and hung with my friend mel and played at the pool with my friend angie. it worked out great! but by the end of the week i was tuckered out yo!

on friday night we played with jes's new wii fit. this has been her latest obsession, and she finally got it on friday. yall, that is some fun shit. for reals. first we did the body test where the wii tests your general fitness mostly through balance exercises. in the first go round jes had a wii fit age of 26 (she's really 28) and i had a wii fit age of 46 (i am 34). this, of course, hurt my feelings. we did the tests over and over and i only got down to 43 (what the fuck?) and she got up into the 40's somewhere (ha ha). we did some yoga moves, some strength training (ugh the lunges) and then i did the hula hoop game too. jes tried a bunch of other stuff like skiing and hitting soccer balls with her head (and a few soccer cleats). sadly, we were both sore the next day. go figure.

saturday morning we got up, did some work and then went to brunch with sarah and kim at ria's. jes got the special which was a banana nut bread french toast with apple compote- it was divine. i got soysage, a biscuit, potatoes, and fruit. jes and i shared everything half and half. it was divine. after that we came home and jes did work and i took a nap. then more work and a few phone calls and off to the gym. it was cool b/c while we ran looking out over the roof of the building and this huge rain storm came through. then we came home, more work, shower and off to an art opening for this local artist, R. Land. This guys stuff is all around town, and I really love it, so it was cool to go and see a showing of his work. They also had free food and beer and rocket pops! Here are some images of his, so you get an idea of what i am talking about:






He had some huge pieces that I would have LOVED to buy, but they cost too much. Some day, when I win the lottery....

In other news, my friend Nancy aka Ali aka Hazelteen aka dj reckless got some more added to her tattoo. Next thing you know she will be totally sleeved. Here is a pic of the new addition:



i love a star tattoo, so i am excited for her.

and lastly, and CERTAINLY not leastly, here is the latest pic of my sweet baby nephew zach. look at those eyes, look at those cheeks:



if that doesn't start your sunday off right, i am not sure what can.

for all you gays out there, hope your pride was divine (ours here in atlanta isn't until next weekend). and happy 4th of july week coming up for the rest of youze. enjoy your day off if you get one.

nyc in the atl

life has been chugging along here
this past weekend jes's classmate erica and her sweetie heidi came and visited
the three of them spent a lot of time together while jes was living in new york this past semester, so i was excited to spend some time with them.

they arrived on thursday night we tried to go to el myr for dinner but it was too packed, so we went to u joint instead. i had a delicious chicken philly sandwich and a PBR. i think after we finished it was pretty late and we were all tired so we went home and hit the hay.

i got up friday morning and went to work for half a day while they drove around and got breakfast. we spent the afternoon in the pool which was really fun and relaxing. when we got hungry we headed to taq del sol where they too began to fall in love. on friday night we went to this night called "heaven" (far from it) at this bar called bellisima.the bar was in fact, very pretty, and the crowd was pretty eclectic. the music pretty much sucked ass, so once we realized we could take our drinks outside, i think things began to look up. here is a picture of jes, heidi and erica before we went in:



and here is one of us all outside the bar:



we spent saturday morning sleeping in and playing mexican train dominoes. they had never played and now they, like many others, are hooked. we had a late lunch at el myr, ran some errands in little five and then headed to the midway for... beer and more dominoes. when we played at home jes seriously won every game. once we got to midway, erica and i won a few games at first. here is a pic of erica strategizing and heidi looking on:



and here is one of heidi after her first win. look at the joy on her face:



between all the food at el myr and the beer and dominoes at midway, we had to go home and take naps. when we woke up we decided that instead of going out and hooping it up with some mullets (non ironic) we would hang out at home and play more dominoes and chat. we never even got out of our napping jammies:



on sunday morning, we all went out to breakfast at thumbs up. jes and erica got greek scrambles, i got a soysage and cheese biscuit and heidi got... CHICKEN AND WAFFLES



she loved it and felt it completed her trip down south.

it was so much fun to have them visit. heidi told hilarious stories about the kids she teaches in new york. my two favorites focused on the hand signals she taught them so they didn't have to talk or call her name in class. one finger in the air means they need the pencil sharpener. two fingers in the air means they need the bathroom. she and erica also told us about one of the kids favorites songs whose lyrics are "chicken noodle soup, chicken noodle soup, chicken noodle soup with a soda on the side." my co worker told me today that lil' mama sings that song. either way, it ran through my head all weekend long.

we were sad to see them go, and i got one last picture of them before we took them to the airport:



we hope they come back for that baby shower in october.
ok i am exhausted and larry won't stop meowing.
happy tuesday.

jesquire in the house

hi yall

its a hot and sunny day here in atlanta.
jes is studying for the bar, and larry is laid out next to me. horace is probably upstairs in his room.

this past? passed? week was pretty eventful. jes graduated from law school! we headed to new york on tuesday afternoon and her ceremony was on wednesday afternoon. it was in avery fisher hall near where the new york opera and ballet building are. the auditorium was totally lovely. the ceremony was hella long: it started at 2:30 and ended just before 6pm. we got there at about 1pm, so needless to say, it was a long day. but the ending was worth it: jes has her J.D.! and she didn't pass out/throw up or trip on stage.

so on tuesday night we had dinner with her folks in little italy. delish. then we headed to brooklyn to meet up with supper club and other law school folks. after dropping off our bags at glennda and kim's and loving on bambino for a minute, we headed to a local bar. there we met up with a bunch of folks. i FINALLY got to meet ben, jes's new gay boyfriend. this spring all she could talk about was ben's chicken curry salad and how good it was. so luckily he brought her a big sammie of it to eat that night. i tried it, it is delish. here is a pic of her and him:



supper club was also there. i was so excited to see kim, glennda and ali. i hadn't seen kim and gt for OVER A YEAR! and i hadn't seen nancy since september or october. way too long.



many of jes's classmates were there too, namely erica and beth. erica and jes are like two little brothers together, especially when a camera is around. here is their best tough guy pose:



and here is a picture of kim and ali. ali is so tan b/c she spent hours working on her garden and weeding the weekend before:



we stayed out too late that night and fell asleep immediately in the jes suite (i.e. gt and kim's second bedroom). we were up early the next morning b/c we had tickets to go to the top of the rock before jes's graduation, but the visibility was so low, we rescheduled for thursday morning. when we got to avery fisher hall we met up with erica and beth (and their families) almost immediately. folks joked that jes and erica looked like servers in a restaurant and beth was the hostess. i think they all look adorable:



and here is jes with her parents. aren't they cute too?



once we got inside the building and got in line for the graduation it was pretty chaotic. also there was only one bathroom for like twelve million people, so i waited in line to pee with everyone's gramma. they were these hilarious spunky old women who were like "you would think they would have more bathrooms" and suggesting we go use the men's room. luckily jes and i could text throughout the ceremony so we were able to make jokes and comment on the shit people on stage were saying or doing. when it was over, we took a few pictures and then headed out to dinner. here is one of me and jes while she is still in her robes and her mushroom hat. i think she looks like harry potter:



we first met at blockheads to get mexican food but they dicked us over on their wait list so we left and went to some other mexican restaurant down the street. it was fancier but still delicious. i ordered some AVOCADO FRIES that everyone loved. Bobby even ordered more. it was jes, me, her folks, glennda and kim (ali had to get to dc for work) and then bobby and higgins. i think everyone had a great time. jes's parents got to see us in action with our friends, higgins knocked over a glass of water onto her and me while gesticulating as she told a story, and everyone seemed to like their food. this was the first time we saw higgs and bobby since their engagement so they practiced a pose for their engagement photo:



after dinner we were pretty tired so we headed back to brooklyn and watched top chef. i fell asleep promptly on the red chair and jes was like "babe get up and go to bed" so i did. on thursday morning we got a bagel at terrace (so delish) and then headed to manhattan to meet up with her folks for the top of the rock. it was cool to see the skyline from that vantage point. jes and i took a pic of us with the chrysler building in the back. its my favorite sky scraper there:



our trip home was pretty uneventful. when we got back to atlanta is was a sauna and it hasn't let up since. yesterday i went to the virginia highlands festival with angie and then we went to swimming pool. it was so fun, but i got a little burned on shoulders. no matter how much sunscreen i put on my shoulders, they always burn. i don't get it.

today is about studying and errands and trying to stay cool.
happy sunday.

a very sad day

yesterday was an incredibly draining and sad day

jes and i had to put our girl kitty emily down after a fast fight with mouth cancer
the doctors were amazing
we were hot tranny messes
the day felt like it was 50 hours long

we will miss her terribly
the two black dots on her nose
her big oven mitt paws
and the way she would sleep "in the valley" between jes and me and purr and purr and purr.

but i feel blessed to have had her in my life for 13 years and in jes's life for almost 7.

now its just me, jes, and the boys, who i have dubbed the "three fang gang" (b/c each has had a fang pulled during a teeth cleaning).

rest in peace emilina.