mi familia de colorado

so i am almost completely over the flu.
i am still coughing a bit, especially after going to a bar last night in tucker where folks were smoking like crazy while playing poker.
but overall i am feeling so much better. ESPECIALLY since it was warm and sunny all day. the house was just flooded with sunlight and the kitties moved from sunbeam to sunbeam. so cute.

jes left today which stinks. we got to spend more quality time with each other toward the end of the week and today we went for a walk in the warm morning sun so that was nice. we got to spend some time with sarah and kim last night at the smoky bar in tucker and then back here to play dominoes. and earlier in the week we got to eat with dawn and the boys and see some bands play at eyedrum, so that was good. larry has been hanging out in various rooms meowing. i think he is wondering where jes is hiding. sweet buddy. i keep telling him its only a few more weeks until her next visit. i don't think he is hearing it right now.

so while this weekend is about relaxing in the sun and getting the house in order, last weekend was about relaxing in the warmth of my sister's house while it was blustery and snowy outside. last saturday i traveled to colorado springs to see my sister, her husband greg, their two boys ben and zach and my mom. we mostly just hung out, made food and watched tv b/c it was so cold and gross out. i got to spend some quality time with ben, who at one point said " i really love you a lot auntie donna" to which i replied "i really love you a lot ben." i also got to love on my brand new nephew zach who is a little muffin.

kath was getting over an infection in her uterus (from the birth) and so she was pretty tired and on huge doses of antibiotics. this meant no breastfeeding, so baby zach was drinking formula and it was messing with his belly a bit. he finally had a blow out the second day i was there and seemed much happier once the funk exited his butt.

so here are some pics of me and the boys. somewhat serious ben and me:



and then a goofy one of him and me:



and here is one of me and zach. it was kind of cute b/c a few times when i got up close to him, i would squeeze his cheeks and ask him to give me a smile and he did. now maybe it was just gas, but he looked cute either way:



and then here is one of the whole family (at least all the folks without tails):



and lastly, but certainly not leastly, here is the picture kath gave out with zach's birth announcement. what a cute muffin:



it was a short trip, but it was good to see everyone and get to meet zach. there is talk of them coming this way to visit the beach this summer.

oh jebus i am watching this show called "high school reunion" its a hot tranny mess.

almost back with the living

yall

i have been down for the count for the last two days with the flu.
seriously i have been in the bed or on the couch for the last day and a half.
it came on pretty quick and i am hoping it leaves real quick too.

i started having pains in my chest on monday during work but was convinced by my boss that i pulled something working out at the gym on sunday afternoon. on monday night i went to the earl and saw hey willpower and MEN. emma met me there and we danced our asses off. i mean really i have not danced that hard in a long time and it felt great. at one point in my dancing frenzy i felt like i couldn't breathe, but i figured it was because the front of the earl allows smoking (the room with the performers was non-smoking). when i left (AFTER MIDNIGHT!) my lungs were really hurting but i blamed it all on the smokers (damn them).

at work on tuesday i started coughing and my throat started hurting and by 2pm i was hurtin for certain. i was home and in the bed by 3pm where i stayed for the rest of the night save for pee breaks and feed the kitty breaks. i woke up wednesday morning with a fever and i felt like all the blood had been drained out of my body. it seriously hurt my skin when my pj pants rubbed against it. i went to the doctor and he told me i have the flu. thanks dude, i already knew that. on my way home i stopped and got two bottles of juice, more robutussin, and a frozen pizza. i got home, got into my pjs and slept off and on for the next 15 hours.

i still felt crappy this morning and it was sort of getting me down. jes gets here tomorrow night and then on saturday morning i am supposed to go and meet my new nephew in colorado. i told myself i felt better and didn't have a fever i would go. and as of this morning i felt like ass and i had a fever. but then i had some pizza for lunch and took a glorious nap, woke up soaking wet with sweat (probably b/c it was 75 here today and i was wearing a bears hoodie and smart wool socks under a super warm blanket) and since then i am feeling a little bit better. i was able to do a little laundry and i got some work stuff done this afternoon too. so i am going to keep positive, keep drinking my juice, and taking my robutussin.

ok enough about this sickness stuff. on to happier things: mel and tanner's new baby. i got some pictures and here they are. first up, baby julian:



and baby boy with mama mel:



and finally the whole lovely family:



pretty cute, huh?

so that is that, now you have seen pics of all three spring babies in my life: zach, molly and julian. stay tuned for more as they grow and change.

since you been gone

big surprise... not much has happened in my immediate day to day.
i go to to work. i do yoga on MWF and LOVE it. I teach on Tu/Th and am exhausted after it. and then i come home.

I did go to the pride banquet on wed and i got to sit at saralyn's table which was nice. the table set up was lovely like a wedding and the food was impressive but too rich for me. on friday night i had dinner with dawn at el myr and tried the bbq chicken. it was divine. last night i went over to seema's and made penne with vodka sauce and learned the layout of her place for when i watch her cat nonni. today i have letter writing, work out, recycle, maybe grade a bit and then i head to mel's for the afternoon. then hell word with sarah and kim. i got a new bottle of wine we are going to try. it was recommended by my friend cowboy. i will let you know how it goes.

so my only other topic of discussion is: BABIES. see i had three people in my life having babies within a few weeks of each other. i have this dream of doing a longitudinal study on each of them and discuss environment and family of origin. does anyone else out there think like this? most just send flowers, i set up sociological studies in my head.

anywho, baby #1 is zach, my new little nephew. he was born just before valentine's day in colorado springs. baby #2 is katie and john's baby in new york. she was born on february 28th. here are some pics of her. her name is molly. i call this one sweet babygirl:



and this one is sweet family:



and this one is called what-the-fuck-have-you-done-to-me-get-me-the-fuck-out-of-here-i-am-PISSED:



of course that one is my favorite.

now baby #3 comes to us from oakland california via mel and tanner. baby julian was born on march 7th, and i don't have any pics yet, but when i do, i will post them.

so that is it for babies for a while. i have a a high school friend maria who is pregnant, but i think we have a few months before that one comes out.

oh, i also saw "no country for old men" yesterday. what a beautiful (but violent) film. OH AND ONE MORE THING: my friend dusty graduated from doggy training academy WITH HONORS (of course). I am so proud of her.

happy time change day yall!

miscellany

hi yall

i am not sure why, but i haven't been the best blogger.
i can't say it's because i have been busy partying it up. i haven't.
jes came into town last weekend so i was pretty focused on that.
we had a good time. got some valentine's dinner at the standard (klassy), went to a benefit for this local bike coop and listened to some good music, and i think each of us was belly sick one night. oh yeah and we went over to emma and kristina's for a drink one night and to sarah and kim's for the hell word the other night. and we went shopping. i got some jeans and underwear. see, this is why i didn't blog. not much to say.

i do have some pictures though, so let me post those.
they come in three categories:
prom, alaska, and baby nephew.
seems unrelated, doesn't it? well the connection is ME!

first up:

got a few more pics from the prom. its hard to choose which is the most hilarious. would love to hear your thoughts on it.
we have an artsy black and white (my fav), an americana artsy pic from john (with antlers in the back), and one where the photog was like "don't look at me, look at each other, do something fun":







that is some good shit, no?
fyi, i am watching one of the finest movies ever made: The Goonies.
it's on TBS. you're jealous.

so second on the agenda is ali and alaska.
my friend ali went to alaska for her job and spent a few extra days there exploring the area.
she said it was lovely, and so i want to share a few photos with you.
one is of the landscape, one of ali and the landscape, and one is of the ice hotel she checked out but did not check into:







and last but certainly not least, more of my nephew. one is him, a moses basket and a cat namel samuel who wants the WHOLE moses basket. the other is of him with some bear slippers on. pretty cute, no?





so that's it yall
it dreary today, but at least its not raining
happy saturday!

presenting...

zachary james

here he is fresh out of the over:



and here his angry at the paparazzi:



and here he is as a sweet sleeping muffin:

this just in

and by "just in" i mean "i found out last night in the bed as i was falling asleep"

my sister kath and her husband greg had their second baby boy last night!
his name is zachary james (i think) and he is about seven pounds and pretty long
kath pushed him out in like five hours with NO DRUGS-- what a champ!

pictures and precise measurements to follow.

yeah for new baby boys!

what a weekend

happy sunday morning yall

its sunny and warm here in atlanta and me and all the kitties are on the couch soaking in the sun.

i had an outstanding weekend, and i am still tired from it. just to update you on the kitty pooping in the hallway, my i-will-clean-the-litterbox-everyday-plan worked for ONE DAY. on friday nobody pooped in the hallway. VICTORY. but then on saturday i got a morning AND afternoon poop pile. so i have given up. i moved both litter boxes back into the second bedroom and i am just going to keep picking it up and i will buy some stronger odor zapper and hope for the best. this is my life. the life of a pooper picker upper.

so i had a pretty packed weekend. on friday night after work i went over to dawn and gators FINALLY (every single one of them had a fever over the last week. i tried to go over there THREE TIMES to give bailey his three year old present and someone was always sick. i finally just took a chance and went on friday). it was a great time. i was greeted at the door by dawn and a very naked and ready for bath time baby cade. his belly is to die for. both boys bathed together (so cute) and sufficiently got twelve gallons of water up gator's nose. poor buddy. then after boys were in jammies we hung out and played in the living room.

first, cade (8 months) showed me how he can crawl. check him out in action:



then bailey opened his presents from me and jes for his third birthday. we got him a book called "my world my colors/mis mundo mis colores." it's in english and spanish and follows a little girl who loves the colors of the desert where she lives. pretty cute. very colorful. and then we got him three matchbox cars. the one pick up truck that i got him was called the troca, which is almost like my last name. total coincidence. anywho here is a picture of bailito with the libro:



his hair is so long he looks a little like he is in the beatles or something. after the boys went to sleep we ate dinner and sat and chatted. we were all pretty beat so i headed home around 10pm and watched a celebrity rehab on tivo and then hit the hay.

on saturday i was up around 8am and kim came by around 10 so that we could go looking for some components to our outfits for the east point PROM we were attending that night. she hooked us up with some sweet shirts. all we needed was cumberbunds and bowties. after looking around some at thrift stores and whatnot, we find some at stefan's vintage clothing in little five. we also got some $5 cufflinks. mine were white to match my tie and cumberbund and kim's were black to match hers. once we dropped off kim's taxes to her accountant lady we went and got some lunch at noodle in decatur. i had never been there but it is really delish. good to have another place to eat.

after kim dropped me off i graded some papers while sitting in the warm sun out in front of the house and gchatted with jes and glennda. i also took a glorious nap to prepare myself for a late night at the prom. i had to meet kim at 7pm at her house. but first i had to pick up our boutineers at the kroger florist. i got a few looks in the kroger for shizzle. here is a pic of me as i was heading out:




when i got to kim's she was completely ready. she had on her ruffled shirt, white with blue ruffles, black pants and a black bow tie and cumberbund. she also had on her gramma's (may she rest in peace) black VELVET blazer. i was jelly of her jacket, all i had was jes's black brooklyn hoodie in case i got cold. luckily, she also borrowed (along with the ruffled shirts) two HUGE while blazers. i was like "should i wear it" and then i put it on and kim almost peed in her pants laughing b/c it is a white jacket and i looked like i was in a polka band AND because the shoulder pads were so huge i looked like i should be in a talking heads video or something. ridonkulous.

so we left for the east point prom, which was at the american legion town hall. we park, walk up some stone steps and immediately walk into a wood paneled restaurant bar where the average age was about 62. everyone is smoking (no me gusta) and drinking and eating their six dollar steak dinner. it was like the music stopped and everyone looks at me and kim the queer polka brothers. we were like "is this where it is?" and then i looked beyond the room and saw pink balloons and streamers and realized we had to walk through the bar to get to the hall. there we found all of kim's east point friends.

here is a picture of her with cindy and bob (sarah and kim's savior who helped them hook up their new washer and dryer. we love him).



along with the strongest fucking jack and coke you will ever have, the east point american legion prom also offers tj, the singing dj. he took to the dance floor with a hometown favorite "strokin." luckily, he found kim's firefighter friend who is probably the shyest of the group and asked her when the last time she made love was. i think she wanted to crawl into her suit:



and thank god he threw a few pelvic thrusts into his dance:



kim and i spent most of our time dancing our asses off to music from every decade except this one. well he did play one justin timberlake song. kim also got hit on by a very drunk older woman who kept asking:

1. if kim and i were a couple
2. where we lived
3. what kim did for a living

she invited us to another bar after the prom and we respectfully declined. i tried to get a good picture of the two of us in our ruffle shirts, but here is a cute one of kim and my twelve chins:



and here is the cutest picture of kim and the wife of bob (who saved the day. i forget her name but i was calling her peggy sue b/c she looked like peggy sue got married. she was adorable:



and finally is a picture of me, kim and this wonderful older woman named patrice. when we first got there and we waited about 15 minutes (for real) to order our jack with a splash of coke drinks, we saw this adorable woman who had this thin wispy grey hair that was sort of in a faux hawk. she was also rocking a blue sweatshirt that said "DALLAS" in rhinestones i think. and some stretch pants. anywho, kim and i called her our girlfriend and i was going to ask her to dance but i chickened out. but kim went up and talked to her and we got her picture. she was there with her husband of 36 years. they were just getting drinks and dinner the american legion and made their way into the prom. she told kim that "straight people don't know how to party" and the next time we have a prom she will come dressed to impress. she was very concerned about her hair, she had just lost it after treatment from cancer (for the third time) and kim assured her she is beautiful and we love her hair. anywho, he she is:



how cute is she?

ok i need to get a move on. i have a million errands to run before i have a meeting at 4pm. i hope your day is great.

ok people

here is what i should be doing:

1. working on my lecture on south asian immigration to the u.s. for thursday
2. grading papers
3. reading "the namesake" for class on thursday
4. writing my gramma jo a letter
5. wrapping bailey's birthday present

here is what i am doing:

1. blogging
2. making italian wedding soup for my friend mel who i am going to hang out with tomorrow evening

last week, for the second half of the week my boss was out of town attending a conference in new york city. at the end of every day, i wrote him an email filling him in on the happenings of the day. i started to think that the format would be good for blogging. you know, spend some time on sunday mornings recounting to you, dear reader(s) (?) what i did that previous week. sadly, i have not implemented this new system, nor do i think i really have enough exciting stuff to write about after only one week. so let me try to piece together some stuff over the last few weeks:

1. my friends higgins and bobby got engaged. i have known higgins for almost a decade. can you believe that? bonkers. i met bobby shortly after they started dating while we were living in brooklyn. i love bobby. he's the (non dairy) cheese and higgins is the (wheat) macaroni. really. they are great together. not only does bobby have gastrointestinal problems like me (what could be better?), he loves buddha, and he is also secretly in love with our cat larry. because they are all outdoorsy and athletic they ran up the stairs in philly like rocky and then got engaged. here are a few pics of them:





2. last saturday i helped jes's folks completely demolish the bathroom connected to their bedroom down to the wood studs and wood floor. i got there right before 10am and I did not walk into my house until 8pm that night. It was intensely physically demanding work, and my hands and wrists and back and hips hurt so bad i could almost cry when we were done. not only was it hard work, it was completely rewarding work. it was amazing to see the bathroom when we were done and to think "i helped do that." i think i most definitely impressed her folks with my strength and perserverance, or at least made them laugh when i would curse at the tile or concrete as i slammed it with the sledgehammer. they began to call me "donna the destroyer." when we were done, jes's dad and i had the most delicious pbr in a bottle i have ever had, and her mom had a dirty martini. they also fed me lunch AND dinner. both were divine as usual.

3. on sunday i ran errands and did some work in the morning and afternoon and then went to a superbowl party with kim and sarah. it was at their friend lynn's house. lynn is adorable, a lawyer (ooh sexy) and she has one of the prettiest houses i have ever seen in grant park. i mean its like the kind of house you just walk into and feel at ease. there was all kinds of good food (as is often true at sarah & kim's friends parties) and kim and i downed a few crown royal & cokes b/c that is how we roll. i am pretty sure everyone in the room except me was from mississippi or louisiana, but i just said "yall" a lot and smiled. somewhere in the third quarter we headed back to sarah and kim's to watch that TERRIBLE lesbian show we watch every sunday night as some sort of community service or something. then we put the game back on JUST IN TIME to see the game winning touchdown they threw to lexipro (i know that is not his name but that is what i call him). both kim and sarah (more kim than sarah) were ELATED that eli (a NOLA boy) won. i liked how lexipro cried when they won. i like when big football dudes cry. reminds me they are human.

4. this morning i got up as ASS CRACK (i.e. 5am) to finish preparing for class and to get ready and head to the polls to vote. it only took 15 minutes (sweet!) and there were these cute gay boys behind me in line who JOGGED to the polling place. where do you think they kept their i.d.? ew. sweaty i.d. i even took a picture of my vote and my voter reg card with my phone just in case my vote gets "lost." i had a day filled with meetings and teaching, and then after work i headed to this pharmacy to pick up a chicken flavored suspension of larry's heart medicine which is 1/3 the price of the pills. he seemed to like it ok. i am a little timid squirting the 1ml of chicken flavored meds in his mouth but after i did, he licked the syringe, so i think that is good. i was supposed to go over to dawn's tonight to hang out and give her 3yearold son bailey his bday present, but now he has a fever. the last two times i was supposed to see them baby cade had a fever and then dawn had a fever. i am going to try again on friday i think.

5. i feel like sickness is all around me. my students are sick, my coworkers are sick, my coworkers kids are sick, my friends are sick, and my friends kids are sick. i am just trying to drink my juice, take and emergenc every so often and keep up with yoga. i am hoping that will keep me healthy.

yall i wish my blog was scratch and sniff b/c if you could smell how good this homemade wedding soup smells you would fall over. i hope mel and his roomies like it.

what else can i tell you? one or all of the cats is shitting in the hallway. i bought some odor and stain remover and sprayed it all over the hallway and that very same day someone shit right on top of that odor remover. i sprayed it again and no one has pooped yet (knock on wood). so we'll see. maybe its a delayed reaction. i don't think its b/c anyone is sick, and i KNOW its not b/c the litter boxes are dirty, so i am chalking it up to "we miss jes." what if i just pooped in the middle of my office every time i missed jes, or every time i had to have a meeting with someone i don't like. wouldn't that be hilarious (and terrifying if you know me).

i am thinking about doing a little shopping. maybe i will wait until jes gets home for her next visit. i think i just need a few more shirts for work and maybe one more pair of pants. now that i am wearing teacher clothes five days a week i am realizing i have some stuff i never wear. so i want to get rid of it and replace it with stuff i will wear. not a total overhaul. maybe just a few key pieces. i also think i need to get some black work shoes that are not boots or shell toe adidas and are comfie and easy to walk in. i also need to get more formal brown shoes. again, i plan to take my time with this, but i think i have mentally commited to spending some money on this stuff. yes, this is my process. please don't make fun.

ok that is it. i have nothing else to say really. hopefully i will have more to report soon. i am going to a prom with kim on saturday. we might wear tuxedos. that has to yield a few good pics, don't you think?

happy fat tuesday.

jes visit #1

ok yall

jes just left on a jet airplane back to crooklyn
we had a great time and got to hang out with a lot of folks
we got to play some dominoes with sarah and kim and i think sarah won every game. here is the result of one of the games:



and here is a look at the smokin hot players:



we also got to meet up with angie and elin at this bowling alley outside the perimeter for elin's bday. it was huge and fancy and played amazing videos from the 80's on screens right above the bowling pins. I saw criss cross and lionel richie, and most important, michael jackson's "beat it."

last night we had dinner with jes's folks at taqueria del sol and jes ate herself just short of uncomfortable with all the chips and dips and this morning we got breakfast at ria's. what was really great is we got to see our friend mel, who was in a real bad accident several months ago and really should have died. he was spunky as ever and i am excited because we made plans for me to bring some food over every once in a while. i think i am going to start with italian wedding soup. simple, but delicious.

i also am ready to post pictures of our tattoos. i really wanted to get a picture of mine and then juxtapose that with jes's. the image is of a little blue ghost, his name is mr. fangs and he is a tag (graffiti) that you can find in a lot of the neighborhoods we hang out in here in atlanta. i love him and he makes me happy so we decided to get him for our six year anniversary. jes also got a little chicken leg on hers b/c that stands for how delish southern food is. mine totally looks like crap and is scarred, jes's looks great and is solid. you judge for yourself:

here is mine:



and here is jes's:



and here is one of them together:



i think when she comes into town next time we will go and talk to the tattoo place and see what they can do for me. all i know is i don't want the same guy touching it up.

so that is that for my weekend. its just me and the cats now. em has finally descended to the first floor from her blue blanket heaven upstairs, and the boys are meowing at me for food.

here is a pic of me and jes from right before we left for the airport. i miss her already:

you can run but you can't hide...

soon you too will fall in love with mexican train dominoes.
here are some pictures of us playing last weekend

doesn't it look like so much fun?

i moved to the south to get away from this shit

happy saturday yall
i woke up this morning (thanks to larry) and went down to feed him and here is what i found:





now i am not sure if the mouse was set aside to make way for the cat food
or if the mouse is also eating the cat food
either way, i thought it was a cute juxtaposition
that is a fake mouse, by the way.

after eating breakfast and putzing around i looked outside and lo and behold: it was snowing
like, for real. big wet flakes.
since jes has moved to brooklyn it has not snowed there even once
it has snowed here TWICE
what the f yall?

here is a picture of the snow in georgia:



after going out this morning/early afternoon to work out and run some errands, i have spent the remainder of the day watching tv and talking on the phone. the kitties have been LOVING IT. speaking of kitties, i need to give them their pills.

hope your long weekend is great and filled with rest.

FINALLY a cute picture to post

check it out
its my sister and my nephew
my sister is the pregnant one
:)

just kicking it

this is how bad tv is tonight:
i am watching the E True Hollywood story about Jenna Jameson.
Pathetic? Yes.
They are interviewing her and I think she is drunk or high.

Anywho, this past weekend I had some fun. On Saturday, I went to Joe's coffee house with Emma and worked on school stuff
Then that night we met up with Angie and Elin at their place and I introduced them to the joy that is Mexican Train dominoes. Everyone was completely hooked after the first round. And each of us won a couple times, so that was good too. What was totally weird is that we were all Midwestern. Emma is from Indiana, me from Illinois, Elin from Wisconsin and Angie from Minnesota (or vice versa-- i should know). Anywho, the midwest was representing at that game night for shizzle.

On Sunday I went to another party/game night at our new neighbors Leah & Katie. No dominoes here, we played apples to apples, but they did love my veggie dogs in a blanket. Usually Jes makes these, so I didn't know how many crescent rolls I needed, so I didn't bring many and they were gone pretty quick. It was a fun time, I met some new people and we talked about all kinds of stuff.

After that I headed over to Kim and Sarah's to watch the L Word. That show sucks so bad I can't stand it. I mean really, its so poorly written and acted I don't even want to go into it. It's unacceptable with as many good queer women writers and actors as there are.

My tattoo is getting better slowly, but now that the angry crusties are gone, the skin still feels kind of weird. Jes will be here next weekend and I am going to compare it to hers and then see if I should go to a dermatologist or back to the tattoo joint or what. the color is so horrible. i mean really it looks like someone colored it with a blue marker that was running out. i am still glad we got them, i just wish they would have turned out better.

that is about all i have to report. larry let me sleep through the night last night for the first time since jes left. i slept for seven glorious hours. hoping we will get a repeat tonight.

today is my sister's bday. happy birthday kath!

hi peeps

well i wish i had more to report, but life has been pretty slow.

my tattoo is still healing, and it looks pretty gross so IF it ever heals, i will post a picture of it
i have set a deadline that if the gross crustiness is not gone by sunday i am going to go to the doctor
it is still pretty red and very tender to the touch and after reading about cellulitis and staph infections from tattoos i am a wee bit freaked out. i am sure it will be fine, but i just wish it would HEAL already. it double sucks that jes has the SAME EXACT TATTOO and got it at the SAME EXACT TIME and hers is healing better so i can't really play the "what if" game, b/c i sort of have a direct thing to compare it to, you know?

tv tonight is SO BAD i turned the fucking tv off. pathetique.

my weekend was pretty slow too. watched nanny diaries on saturday night (cuz i am cool like that) and then on sunday went to sarah and kim's for the lword premiere. what a disappointment. totally over the top and ridonkulous. why do i watch it? no fucking idea. its like a car crash, i just have to look.

monday night i went back over to kim and sarah's (b/c really they CAN'T get enough of me) and we watched the LSU vs. OSU football game-- the BCS championship. it started out pretty good for OSU but quickly went into the shitter. i was so tired that i left a bit after half time b/c i was afraid i would fall asleep on the drive home. i am quickly realizing how much i benefitted from jes driving everywhere: didn't matter how tired i was b/c i could always fall asleep in the passenger seat. kim was pretty gracious even though her team (LSU) spanked the hell out of my team (OSU). ruthie also kept her farts to a minimum, which i appreciated.

on friday night i am going to taqueria del sol with angie, so that should be fun. i will probably spend a greater part of the weekend preparing for my class (it starts on January 17th!) AAAHHHH! where did the holiday break go? i also use the weekends to run errands and tidy up some. for the record, the joint is much cleaner. i am not saying its BECAUSE jes isn't here, but it is a coincidence, don't you think? ooh snap, i am certain i will get some comments on that one.

another exciting thing is that i registered for this continuing education or evening class. its a dance/martial art/yoga class. see, i have wanted to take a dance class for some time now and i thought that maybe ballet would help me get in shape, work on my core and balance and grace, so that is what i was going to take. then i found out the class i was looking at (discounted through my employer) was held in BUCKHEAD at 6:30 pm (rush hour) and i was like "hell no." this one i found is in avondale estates, just a hop skip and jump away. i hope it doesn't suck and more importantly, i hope i don't suck at it.

in preparation for my american studies class i am teaching, i read the first chapter of barbara kingsolver's book "animal, vegetable, miracle" and it was so fascinating. i am going to teach some of it in my class. jes is completely entranced by "kite runner." she found a used copy at one of the bookstores in brooklyn. i am excited to read it when she is done.

i have spent much of the time since jes left for brooklyn developing routines and patterns that bring me comfort. i have pretty much got the feeding, pilling, watering, and cleaning litterbox schedule down. i was worried about taking on all the cat responbilities by myself, but really they are not that bad. except the wake me up in the middle of the night one.

normally jes would get up with them at like 2am or 4am b/c if i did, i can't go back to sleep and i am a zombie all day. then i would get up with them around 6am or so. well now i am it, so they wake me up both times. luckily last night, i rallied until about midnight and set my alarm for 6am and larry did not wake me up until 5am and then let me sleep until 6:30 or 7, which was nice. my hypothesis is this: the later i give them their pills (closer to 8pm instead of 6pm) and the later i stay up, the later they wake me up to be fed or pilled or to just hang out with them. this, is in some ways, killing me b/c if i could, i would finish this blog and be in the bed by 10pm. but i have to try and soldier through.

oh, also have three new years resolutions:

1. floss every night. i know most of you already do this and its just good hygiene, but i get so tired at night i often skip it. not in 2008. i am flossing every night AND gargling with listerine. it burns my mouth.

2. breast exam once a month. prolly on the 11th depending on my menstrual cycle. also, i know i should be doing this anyway, but i am COMMITTING in public to do it, for the health of my boobs.

3. do cardio at the gym at least three times a week. i went on sunday and today and i am going to go tomorrow and at least once this weekend. someday soon i will add in weights too. then i will get real buff.

that's about it yall. emily is asleep next to me on the couch curled up in a tiny ball. larry is on his favorite chair in the dining room and horace is prolly upstairs on the futon in his room. i am so tired, but i think i am going to try and read.

happy wednesday yall.

flying solo

good morning yall:

well i made it through my first night without jes.
the cats only woke me up twice: 2:30am & 5:30am
and now emily is laying next to me, larry is on a chair in the dining room, and horace is running around the house playing "crazy cat" (up and down the stairs, across the back of the couch, through the living room and then back up the stairs).

it has been a pretty slow weekend. i took jes to the airport with her two huge bags and two carry ons and she got on her plane to brooklyn around 3pm. she is finishing her last semester of law school back at brooklyn law school. after i dropped her off i went and got some more heart pills for larry and then hung out with my friend angie's cat lois. i spent the night on the couch with the cats, chillaxin and watching "nanny diaries." it was surprisingly more critical than i thought it would be. and scarlett johansson and alicia keyes are not bad to look at AND the little boy was super cute, so it was pretty good overall.

today i have a bunch of errands to run: recycle, work out, hang with lois, and meet someone at thumbs up to talk about getting in the ILA, the department i got my ph.d. from and then tonight is the L Work Premiere! I get to watch it with Kim and Sarah and Ruthie, while Jes watches it with Kim and Glennda and Bambino. And then after that (yeah right!) I am going to try and video conference with supper club (including jes in brooklyn) to discuss how heinous the premiere was.

It looks like the sun is completely up, so I should get my day started. I hope your Sunday is outstanding!

feliz ano nuevo yall

so its 2008
how do you feel about that?

i feel pretty good, overall
i was having a bit of a hard time yesterday, REALLY unmotivated
but today i have accomplished more, so b/c me accomplishing = happy in my life, i am feeling pretty good today
first of all, it is nice and sunny but windy and coldish here in the atl
not loving the cold, but luckily i have some flannel pj's, smartwools and a chicago bears sweatshirt on, so i am toasty
the rosebowl, featuring my alma mater, university of illinois is about to start: HOW EXCITING!
and i am going to make a delish cayenne rubbed chicken breast with avocado salsa for dinner. nice way to start the year, no?

i finished my book today while taking care of my friend angie's cat lois
it's called "A Map of Ireland," and my friend Stephanie Grant wrote it. Its about a young white girl in south boston in the 70's and her experiences with the desegregation of her school and the Black Power movement in Boston. I loved Steph's first book "The Passion of Alice," and I loved this one too. It's not out in stores yet, but when it is, pick up a copy.

Today Jes and I finally unpacked our shit from Mexico and I did some laundry. We had a nice big breakfast of eggs and toast and white gravy, and I even changed our sheets and towels and kitchen towels. so the household is CLEAN yall. well, mostly clean.

ok the coin toss of the game is about to happen and the players on each team are holding hands. i like that. ok so usc won the toss and they are going to kick off first. Jes loves juice williams and I think i might too. all the kitties are on the couch with us, cheering on illinois (except horace, i bet he is cheering for usc just to be contrary-- such a teenager)

anywho the last thing i wanted to post about yesterday but couldn't get to b/c i was knee deep in intervention episodes is our trip to mexico. like last year, jes and i headed to sayulita, mexico to spend some time with mary, dusty, shoshana, and her sweetie laurel. it was a lovely few days filled with a little bit of sun, lots of dominoes, puzzles, paint by numbers and, of course, margaritas and guacamole. when we got there on tuesday, these are the lovely faces we saw:



so the good news upon our arrival was that it was warm and sunny, the bad news is that dusty was fighting a cold or a flu or something. i brought her some benadyrl sinus and flu or some shit and i think that, along with lots of rest, turned her around. the first few days they were there, dusty was hurtin for certain and had quarantined herself and the puzzle she was working on. jes wasn't skeered, and got on that puzzle with dusty asap. here is a picture of the 1500 piece puzzle when we arrived:



along with puzzling, we also did a lot of paint by numbers. dusty had these paint by numbers made from photos she took. ours is of the pool at casa brava. i didn't do too much work on it, but jes did. it was hilarious, at one point, all the kids were working on their paint by numbers. crazy bunch:



most days we got up, drank coffee or juice, ate a little something, read our books, checked email, shosh studied for her nursing test, mary wrote, you know, whatever floated our boats. then we headed into town to hit the beach. the weather was not the greatest, lots of clouds and a cool breeze. the ocean, though very calm, was cold as hell. here is a picture of jes and me while walking through town:



oh shitballs. usc just go their SECOND touchdown. its early. its still anybody's game. i got to believe.

back to mexico. shoshana's gfriend laurel arrived a couple days after we did. she was super bonkers on the evening she was coming. by super bonkers i mean really excited to see her. here is a picture of her waiting in her booty shorts:



and here they are that night with shosh's favorite town dog she named "bambi":



and here they are on the beach:



after much dedication and concentration, jes and dusty finished the puzzle. it was a joyous moment. here is a picture of the puzzle completed:



we introduced mary, dusty, shosh, and laurel to a wonderful new game we recently learned: mexican train dominoes. i am not sure why the train is mexican, nor do i know if that is a defamatory name, but what I do know is that mary fell in love with the game. she really could not get enough of it, AND though she loved it, she did not become a crazy competitive person like she *sometimes* does.

WAIT: Illinois just intercepted a pass. it was brewtiful.

anywho, the bottom line about the dominoes, we played a lot and it was hella fun. thanks to sarah and kim for introducing us to the game AND for getting us our own set of dominoes. loves ya.

the best day weather wise was friday. it was warm and sunny enough early on that we spent a few hours at the cemetery beach (our favorite beach in town). i even got into the FREEZING cold ocean b/c it was my last chance. i got a few good pics of mary and dusty with the water behind them:






aren't they pretty?

and finally, here is a picture from our last night in sayulita. it took us a minute to get the timer to work, but it finally did:



it was sad to say goodbye to the gang on saturday, both b/c i was already missing them and because it was the first sunny and really warm day. perfect for the beach. but instead, we packed up and headed to the airport which was filled with rude fucknut americans who were all more important than us and therefore could push, cut off and/or stare at us incessantly. i was happy to get on the plane and get to watching "dexter" on my ipod. i was also happy to get home and get some serious kitty loving.

ok i am running out of battery and i need to get to preparing dinner. illinois is not doing so well, but its still the first half, so i am not going to get too worried.

happy 2008 yall.