And This is Why We Take Group Pictures

Which one is me? Which one is the Sherp?

Happy New Year!

From the gang...here is our first shot at a "group picture"!! I would just like to add that this was LUCKY.

You're My Best Friend

"When everything is wrong I'll come talk to you
You make things alright when I'm feeling blue

You are such a blessing and I wont be messing
With the one thing that brings light to all of my darkness

You're my best friend
and I love you, and I love you
Yes I do

There is no other one who can take your place
I feel happy inside when I see your face
I hope you believe me
Cause I speak sincerely
and I mean it when I tell you that I need you

You're my best friend
and I love you, and I love you
Yes I do

I'm here right beside you
I will never leave you
and I feel the pain you feel when you start crying

You're my best friend
and I love you, and I love you
Yes I do

You're my best friend
and I love you, and I love you
Yes I do
Yes I do...
Yes I do"

I need you to sing this with me!  We'll just close our eyes, and picture all of us together, and rock out.  I'm having surgery tomorrow.  Remember that whole heart shaped uterus thing?  Well, I'm getting rid of it.  No no, not the uterus, just the piece of the heart that is hanging down making my womb an inhospitable place for making babies.  And I'm nervous as all hell.  

The month of August has been crazy.  My day job has been crazy busy with various submissions that needed to go into federal agencies.  Throw in a week trip to Hawaii for a wedding, and then a weekend trip to NYC for M's conference shoot, and now surgery- well, it all has left me beside myself.   Beside myself in a good way, of course.  If I've ever really rocked out, its been this year. And its not even over yet.  It's just August.  I've built Jonas and Luna with the buddy of all buddies, I've gone to Italy and France, and felt love love love everywhere, Ryder got a big boy bed and we got rid of his nightly and morning bottles (FINALLY), Ryder went to NYC,  we saw a beautiful moon and rainbow in Hawaii, I suffocated and squeezed the shit out of my godson, and got harassed by Kevin.  All in all, a good year.  Its funny how a bit of your life flashes before your eyes when you know you're going to be put into a deep, paralyzing, immobile sleep for an hour.  I'm scared.  I need you to sing this song with me.  Will I wake up?  Will I see Ryder's and Scott's sweet faces again?  Will I see yours?  I know I'm being dramatic.  I'm a Leo.  Will we be able to have another baby?  Or will we adopt from Tibet?  

The take home message from this incoherent blog post is this:  Just LIVE.  Just LOVE.  Throw yourself into life and don't stop.  And don't forget to love along the way.   Sing this song with me.  It will make me happy.

Bottle Rockets...

So, on a lighter note..

If you ever feel like giving away money for a good, hearty, laugh- I know a guy who'll gladly help you out. 10 bucks, 20 bucks, 5 cents, you name it. For 5 dollars, he might drink a shot glass full of hot sauce, or something similar. For 25 dollars, he might bend over, pull his pants down to his knees, put his ass out the window of a townhouse, and have a BFF gingerly place the end of a bottle rocket into his ass (although he might complain a little, if it hurts). For the same small fee- you can even watch the BFF light it up, and watch it shoot out of his ass and into the street. How's THAT for good times???

And not only that..he'd willingly to do it again. Blondiesassypants told me that she recently saw this doerofanythingstupidandtakerofmoney, and this is what he had to say:

"Next time we do the bottle rocket thing, we need to make something out of cardboard that will protect all of my goods, with just a hole cut out to stick the bottle rocket in."

In which she promptly emailed me, and said:

1. To think that there will be a next time???

2. To put thought into making a contraption that leaves an asshole opening????

3. To want someone shoving a bottle rocket in your ass again???


Yeah. True story. No lie.

I have NO idea who'd do that... I don't have ANY relationships with THOSE types of people...;)

Happy Birthday to YOU Too, Old Man.

So what's it like to be so old, Slowburn? I would like it to be known (finally, for the blog record), that everything that I've ever tried that might have happened to be "bad", has been ALL Slowburn's fault. Period. He's lucky his kid is so damn cute. It makes him a little more huggable too, no? =)

Here are some pictures of your CUTE KID! You must feel super special. I waited til it was exactly your birthday, and posted them. JUST. FOR. YOU.

Happy Birthday!! Just like we said we would, we're headed for the wheelchairs and canes....and watching our kids grow....

Because I Love Her!!

This is because it's coming up on Wednesday, and P and I always used to commiserate over how SUCKY Wednesday hump days were.  I'd go over to her apartment after work, still fuming in my work clothes, and she'd be "prepping" for dinner.  We'd spend the rest of the evening smoking and gabbing between stuffing our faces.  I'd laugh at her while she complained over how much mosquitoes fucking pissed her off.  I'd wrestle with the Tonka pup.  And really, what the hell did we have to complain about then?  Those were the good days.  The good days still exist, but what seemed to be insurmountable then, ain't so much now.  I continue to marvel over her, and the other peeps who fill me with love every single day.  This is for YOU P!  I love this picture of you, so deal with it!  I'm just practicing with Photoshop anyway.  So if it looks a little shaky in some areas...that's because it's for P, and I don't really care.  Like four layers going on here.  Crazy.

So much is happening so fast.   Jonas and Luna are beginning to get work...it's a little scary. We got our logo (it freakin rocks, btw) and suddenly things are beginning to happen.  Maybe a little too fast, but its happening.  Gangs all here.  All we need to do is get out there.  Deep breath.  Focus.  Practice.  Just get better.  

Almost Done...

Rumor has it that the slide show is nearing completion. This week has been really hectic- and honestly for no good reason. There just never is enough time in the day to do all that you need or want to do. I've been spending most of my time importing images onto my new MBP - in between trying to spend yummy time with Ryder- in between busy "day job" work days- in between spending hours online with my girls on iChat. Looking back at the pictures I think that I can't believe that I was there. How come time has to fly by so damn fast? Three months ago is so different from now. Even Ryder is a completely different little boy. Even today- for Amie and Ken, their new addition is what they know, but didn't know three months ago (don't really understand what I wrote there- but you get it, don't you?). Anyhow, it's a little unnerving all of the sudden to think about how FAST our time just flies.

Like I wanna go back into this picture. I want to remember how I felt that day..and how Michelle and Christian felt that day. I want to remember how I felt being there with everyone. I mean, I remember how I felt, I feel it now- its yummy. But it's just not the same cause I'm not really there. That was then. Not sure where I'm going with this..but I guess I just miss you west coasters. In just the last week I saw P and the Sherp. And even though she lives here, in Maryland- M is never here...and I got to see her twice in a row. And its been a blast. Just being there, being stupid- watching each other do shots with the Seed orchestrating elaborate master plans to have us all chatting on the same computer screen. Ian looks sooo different from what he looked like 3 months ago. Liv is turning one. I can't take it- TOO TOO FAST. Three months ago I didn't know that I would try to make a day job out of photography.

Don't you even get me started on talking about where I think the past year has gone.

Nothing Short of Extraordinary

Ahh Beautiful Venice...

Ahh Lake Como from our room ...

Sigh...Wondrous Wedding...

More to Come...Ciao Bella

Update of Random Things

The German lost 16 pounds total! That means our collective weight loss is 136 pounds. WOW!

Sassy and Slowburn are expecting another! WOW!

My dad ROCKS...his aneurysm hasn't grown, and I'm so happy that he's shining on. WOW!

We leave for Europe in two days and Blue Ryder will fall silent. WOW!

I get to see the Baby Ian tomorrow. WOW!

Still need to pack. Made some lists. Stocked the house with Ryder's favorite foods. WOW!

Bought more Memory Cards for the trip for MEGA photo taking. WOW!

I'm gonna get REALLY used to saying, "Ciao Bella"! WOW!

A new LOST episode is on! WOW!

I love weddings. I love dancing at weddings. I love the feeling of the closest friends ever surrounding the couple they love with joy, love, hope, and tightness. We all share a very unique closeness that I love, and I can't wait to be completely surrounded by it again. WOW!

Shit, I'm gonna really miss my son.

Just Waiting on Beefcake

So, I'm sitting here waiting for Beefcake to give me her and The German's final numbers for the Fat War. In fact, every Tuesday night since the Fat War started, I've always been waiting on Beefcake. She's probably just goofing off...

She's probably doing a little bit of this.....

and sliding off a little bit of that....

Guess we'll just wait til tomorrow to post the Final Numbers!!!

We can all thank Beefcake!

One Stiff Drink During the Day

"Fell intooooo....

a sea of grass.....

and disappeared among the shady blades..."

Jane's Addiction

I won't judge anyone who wants to take a few, big, fat, shots of

any sort of mind-numbing alcohol during the day anymore.

I won't do it.

In fact, I'm gonna join them.

Guess Who ELSE?

Check out the links to go to if you're curious.

Slowburn (aka Sassy's Hubby)

is blogging..

Let's not forget about our previous newbie earlier in the week:

The German..

Good Times.

Call of Duty is NOT a Topic That Should be Discussed at Work

I had an "out of body" experience today. I don't even know where to begin, the story is so long and bizarre its enough to give anyone the heebie jeebies. I'm also trying to delicately state the facts, without using any "red flag" words that might call attention to this blog. Let me just say that you should never, ever, discuss slaying people with dangerous items when you're working in a secure, protected environment.

Case in point:

My boss whom I had been working with for the last 4 months is a great guy. He's just like us. Funny, witty, smart, outspoken, sick sense of humor, confident, you know- all the things that I enjoy in people. He makes you think, he questions you on your decisions to get the full picture, and he challenges you to step up to the plate. To some, that's likeable. To others who have been living under a rock, it's like having your worst nightmare facing you everyday. Before I had started working, he already had made enemies (which boss doesn't), and three months into my working with him, they had asked him to step down as chief.

With that said, our office is pretty much divided into two camps- those that support him and his work ethic, his managment style, and everything that he stood for, and those in the other camp who just didn't get him, didn't get his logic, didn't get his sick sense of humor, and just thought of him as rude, arrogant, full of himself. I was in his camp. I supported him, I got him. I mean, he's Hispanic. Need I say more?

Today was supposed to be his last day at work. One of my coworkers and I had sabotaged his office door handle with hand cream so that when he unlocked it, and went to open his office, he'd get a handful. That's the kind of relationship we had. We had the kind of relationship that, with enough convincing, he was going to buy a PS3 so we could keep in touch after his last day, and- being a gamer, he was all into it. So was my coworker. The three of us had many discussions on how to get more goodies when playing Call of Duty, how to slice people, and how I hated when friends of mine would hide in tall buildings and peg me in the head with one of those "scopeweaponsthatblowyourheadupatlongrangedistances".

As his last day drew near, that's all the three of us would talk about, when we did have time to talk. I mean, who hasn't ever said, "What are they gonna do? Fire me? I've got nothing to lose". Whenever he was up to something, that's what he'd say. We all exchanged call names, and pestered each other about who was the wimpiest.

He never showed up today.

I knew that he was on his way in- he was buying us coffee and had emailed me and said that his ETA was 15 minutes. He still never made it into his office. We peeked into it after a 9am meeting, and his office was stripped down so that there was nothing left but dust. That's not like how I saw it at 8am. His computer was gone, all of his final personal things, just gone. Poof. Weeiiirrrdddd. Creepy actually. We had nothing left to do but speculate about what the hell had happened to him.

At 1pm, we were all called into a mandatory meeting and briefed by forces that support the forces. They updated us on the "situation". Our boss had been stopped at the gate at 830am, where they pulled him over, and searched his car, and had him escorted to police headquarters. Where they questioned him some more. Then they told us: "An individual has come forward and stated that they were fearing for their safety today. We thank you for contacting us, but at this time, we do not believe that you are in any danger. He will not be returning to base, and his keys to this office have been confiscated. We thank you for your dilegence- in today's day and age, you never know." This certain individual had also mentioned that my boss had "nothing to lose". WHATBUNCHAGARBAGE.

Someone in opposition of my boss had mentioned that he was talking about a "scopethatblowsyourheadupatlongrangedistances". That's just my code word. Ask me later what dangerous item was mentioned...

"Holy shit" is all that I could think of. My coworker and I turned sheet white. We looked at each other, and we both knew that perhaps they might be coming for us next. I mean, we were the only ones in the office that I know of- talking about this game, and its weapons. But no one came to us. No one questioned us. We deduced that this individual knew we were just talking about a game, and just had it out for my boss. Way to kick the guy out of your office, for Christ sake. What a fuckin way to go.

I guess I won't be saying anything like, "ima slice you in the asshole" anytime soon. Some people just wouldn't get that. But jesus, really- how scary is that? Be careful in your work place, folks. Some people just don't get it.

They should get out and meet some of my friends.

I've Been Tired All Week and Have Nothing to Say....

Except this:

1. Sandy St. Paul 2. Smokey Crestview 3. Pasta Woods 4. Lucky Larson 5. Spanky Wynbrook 6. Goldie Lochview 7. Whitey Church 8. Blue Brooklyn 9. Clementine Cedarhurst 10. Evon Burdock 11. Rex Cedarhurst 12. Socks Lochview 13. Spot Oscar Arellano

a. Blue Ryder b. Beefcake c. The Sherpa d. Man in Basement e. Man in Basement's sister f. The Dentist g. Sassy Pants h. Freakishly Tall Husband i. Browser Metrics j. Capitol Swell k. Eversleuthingfortastyplacestoeat l. Dylan's Daddy m. Foodie Monster

Can you guess what they are? If you already know what they are, then who are they? Have fun matching them.....

OK. Back to Call of Duty.

"Professional" Friends

The gal who works below in this hospital

is the same gal who wants everyone to get a PS3 so she can:

"blow up more people".

The Gal who works in the office below also enjoys a spirited game of

Call of Duty, and likes to say, and I quote:

"Ima shoot yo ass."

And...my favorite:
"Teams are for sissy's".

Hello 2008!

MANGO MINT SPARKLERS

Serves 6

Active Time: 15 minutes Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr

Brunch is a wonderful time to indulge in this refreshing Mimosa alternative. It's important to use pure mango nectar here (though it may not be labeled "pure"); nectar mixed with other fruit juices or high-fructose corn syrup makes the drink too sweet.

1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3 cups pure mango nectar, chilled
1 bottle Moscato d'Asti sparkling wine or sparkling water, chilled

Garnish: cucumber spears and fresh mint leaves

* Crush mint leaves with lime juice in a bowl with a pestle or wooden spoon until bruised and beginning to break up. Stir in mango nectar, then chill, covered, at least 1 hour.

*Pour mango mixture through a sieve into a large glass measure, discarding solids, then pour about 1/2 cup mango mixture into each 6 (10-ounce) glasses and top off with Moscato d'Asti (or sparkling water).

Cook's note: Mango mixture can be chilled, covered, up to 1 day.

From The Best of Gourmet: The World at Your Table- A Year of International Flavors; 2006 Conde' Nast Books

It always ends this way. Hazy, hurried, rush of Christmas, our Anniversary, and New Year's, and then POOF. Silence. A welcomed silence, but a sad one.

Thinking of all of you who came and left...can't wait to see you again. Those that live here....can't wait to see you again either. After maybe about four days. Just give me four days.

Cheers peeps. Here's to you, here's to us, and here's to a great New Year.

Yummy Oreo Cookie

What is Love?

What is Love?, originally uploaded by Blue Ryder.

Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me...no more..

Elf Yourself

Elf Yourself was rated FOUR Bees in US Magazine's Buzz-o-meter! I can TOTALLY see why.

What a bunch-o-suckers!! OK, OK. The dogs are cute.

What We'll Look Like After the Holidays....

This would be the big chief, of course.
This would be Beefcake, cause it's a Corgy. Of course.

This would be me. Cause he looks like Blue.

And this would be YOU.