And the best part is....

They cancelled school tomorrow too!

This is our Snowman!

Snow Day

My Dad... building our snowman this afternoon!

Home Cozy Home...

My house under the three inches of snow that fell this morning!

Nite Out!

Thanks L! The belt is killer!

Warm!!!

Laurel, this is in your honor... actually, you might also be the only one who reads this anymore... But, back to the point! I finally caved and made myself some leg warmers. This is the third pair I've made and the easiest yet, and I LOVE them. They are so warm and cozy and I wear them even under my jeans so I'm the only one who knows they're there... but there they are... keeping me warm and cozy! Brilliant idea sister!

Cat Boy

I always knew my boyfriend was a little weird. I always knew he loved cats. What didn't realize was that he is actually a crazy cat boy. After telling me that barn cats are the world's happiest cats, he petted the weird cat that couldn't pull it's tongue into it's mouth, then marveled at the boldness of the cats walking brazenly across the riding ring... and finally, found these two, who after cleaning each other, curled up to nap together. I thought we were there to watch Tate and the horses???

ihorse

Thomas and I are walking the mini horses. Thomas has Harry Trotter and I have Toby. Toby likes to bite... alot. So periodically, Toby would take off running, forcing me to jog with him, and then he'd slow down so he was just a littel behind me and reach over to nip my leg. According to Tate this is play behavior and means he's having a darn good time. Luckily, i was wearing long underwear and my pants just slid away from my leg between his teeth... BAD TOBY!!!

Horses

Tate and the mini horses, Toby and Harry Trotter

Christmas outside the Beltway

Christmas Dinner... English Style

Have you seen????

http://www.dresskevin.com/

Seriously, copy it, paste it, google it, then contemplate it. This guy "couldn't decide what to wear" so "you pick." Is this a commentary on our times? I knew when Paris Hilton made it big we were slipping from the ranks of the "tasteful" countries, but when a guy is literally willing to wear whatever others pick out for him, what does that say about fashion cool in our country? Peer pressure has become an internet business... I'm not kidding. He has advertisers on his site.

Or is it more insidious than that? Is this the ultimate form of lazy for the obesity center of the world? Or is it a treatise on the voyeuristic side of us, the control freaks? Those of us who love playing the SIMS so much that the opportunity to actually control a real person is irresistable.

I don't have the answers, I'm just puzzed by the things I find on the internet.

P.S. Want to read seriously funny, check out "It's a Good Thing Revenge Was Not Served Cold" at www.anvil-media.com

New Vocabulary

Your Russian Word of the Day...

I don't know how to spell it... Russian being a foreign alphabet and all, but more or less phonetically, the word for Violin is something like Skrivka, or Skribka.

Brought to you by the intro ESL class... Have a nice day!

Happy New Year!

A slightly weird thing about me is that I kind of enjoy being surrounded by sights and sounds that I cannot understand. Which is why, when I saw in the newspaper that Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year was about to happen, AND found out that the largest festival outside of China is only as far away as Vancouver British Columbia, Thomas and I decided to go.

We stayed in a "hostel" which really means, really bad hotel in the wrong part of town, but if we call it a hostel, you'll think you're having an adventure and come anyway. Now, I could be wrong, because I'm not that familiar with Canadian hotel customs, but I think we were next door to a brothel (do canadian hotels usually have neon lights that say GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS on them?) When we checked in, the desk clerk reminded us to take everything out of the car and then leave the glove box open so the potential theives could see there was nothing to steal.

However, we forgave them, because the location was great. We were just a few blocks from chinatown, and we could easily walk into downtown. We visited the shopping districts of Robson Street and Gastown, walked along the waterfront, had a drink in Yaletown, took a water taxi to Granville Island Public Market, and just generally had a good time, but the highlight really was the Chinese celebration.




We went to the event in the expo center there on the eve. (We would have gone to the temple, but it was a long way away). There was a modeling contest, tons of booths, some great food, and about a million games you could play if you could figure out the chinese directions, or if the vendor noticed you were white and spoke english.





The following morning we headed back into chinatown to pick up a wealth beckoning cat and to see the parade. It was phenomenal. Thomas and I went to a bakery in Chinatown to get some snacks (I had a deep fried egg ball... it's better than it sounds) and then found a spot near the start of the parade route. It started at noon, and at 1:10 there were still groups going past, but we were so cold we could hardly move, so we decided it was time to head home. The whole thing was full of life and color, and it was a great adventure.

Wishing you a happy year of the Dog...

You would not believe...

I love U2... Like, favorite band ever, hands down. Like, debated taking an overnight redeye to San Fransisco, cause a friend had an extra ticket. LOVE THEM!

So when I found out they were ending their Vertigo world tour in Portland, OR... well, I had to get tickets. My roommate at the time also happened to be a fan, so we bought tickets together. Not great seats, but I'm in school.

Then some time passed. Things happened. I met a boy, I went to Europe, I decided to totally change my life, and I moved out of the apartment. A few months go by, and suddenly I get an letter in the mail. It has a check in it, with a post it note... a tiny 2 x 2 post it note. It says "Here's the money from your ticket. I found someone to buy it." UMMMM WHAT??????

So I was outraged, my boyfriend, in his attempts at being helpful, called the police and asked if that was theft... they laughed, and said talk to Judge Judy. Okay... bummed... I could have fought it out with her... but frankly, if she was that upset with me, then I didn't really want to ruin the concert I have been looking forward to for years by sitting with her...

Did I mention that that concert sold out in just a few hours after tickets went on sale? They did... So there are no tickets to be had. Actually, that's not true... there were some on Ebay... cause everything's on ebay, but they were maybe 300 dollars and up. So, I became reconciled to the idea that I wasn't going to go see my favorite band. Sad, but they'll tour forever, so I'll catch them next time.

And then the day of the concert rolls around. Dec. 19, for those of you who are keeping track, and I'm not feeling all that great, I've had a bad cold the last week and am feeling a little under the weather, so I'm thinking. "It's okay, next time the tour I won't be sick."

Then 2:00 that day rolls around, I'm laying on the couch, finishing christmas presents and watching Perry Mason.
The phone rings.

It is my boyfriend. He says, "I have two tickets to the concert tonight. Do you want to go?" Ummmm YES!!!!!

It turns out, he had been calling the Universal Records PR guy for U2 daily for the last week. He'd gotten permission from his boss to do a story on the concert, and had managed to get us 2 press tickets.

It was awesome! The seats were WAY better that what I had bought and lost. I spent the money that my roommate sent me on a concert t-shirt... I bought my man a beer, and I still came out ahead financially. The concert was Phenomenal. Really just too good to be true. They played all my favorite songs, and all of Thomas's, they ran around their circular stage, Bono sang operetically to Miss Sarajevo, and it was one of the most chillingly beautiful male voices I have encountered. I was walking on air all night...

I hope you all had a merry Christmas and Hannukah and I wish you the best for this coming year.