Things that are making me very happy at the moment.

The fact that we've gotten quite a bit of rain over the past few days, and everything is green and healthy. Oh yeah, and it's about 15 degrees cooler than normal right now. Freakin' sweet.

This dadgum dog.

Would you PLEASE look at her sweet face?! I just can't stand it sometimes. She is such a sweetpea.

Whole Foods Market's 365 brand popcorn in a bag. Addictive.

The owl house that BH built and put in a tree in the back yard. The welcome lingo was my bit of customization.

The fact that my pre-beach pedicure still looks pretty damn awesome.

Oh and last but not least...MY NEW CAR!!

Holy crap, I'm excited about this little number. As of right now, it's got 21 miles on it, 15 of which I put on it today. I've put the days of the gas guzzling (albeit, comfortable) Murano behind me. Viva la CR-V!

A funny thing happened on the way to the speech pathologist.

So for quite some time, The Geej has had difficulty with the "ir" sound. Heck, who am I kidding. She couldn't even make the "ir" sound, so "bird" was "bohd" and "Earl" was "Ohl" and "girl" was "guh-ohl." But recently, she discovered how to make the "ir" sound with a vengeance. Now she's pronouncing things that should have the "or" sound with all "ir" all the time.

For instance, the if this sentence--"My horse just walked out the door on its way to the store for a corn dog."--were said by the Geej, it would sound like this: "My hearse just walked out of the dir on its way to the stir for a kern dog." It's comedy, people.

Crazy is as crazy does.

I guess if I had to drive a cab around Chicago all day, I’d be insane too. Case in point: Two out of the two cab drivers we had last night were clearly nuts.

Cabbie #1 was a Middle Eastern man who spazzed when we told him we were from Texas. “I LOVE Texas women. One day, I will marry one.” We told him our friend Genie who was with us is single, and he started saying, “Is she hot? Is she a hot Texas lady? I will come down to Texas and marry her.” Then he started warning us not to open up our purses in the neighborhood he was taking us to (a swanky part of the River North entertainment district…not exactly cut-throat alley) and that he would come back and get us when we were done with dinner. Just circle and circle until we came out. Yeah, it was creepy.

Cabbie #2 was an Indian fellow from New Delhi. His opening gambit? Asking, “Do they eat frogs at that restaurant? Have you eaten frogs?” (to which Jaye replied “Yes,” of course). That opening question naturally led to, “Have you drunk the blood of the cobra?” which is apparently for sale in most Indian markets. (Thankfully—and rather surprisingly—Jaye has yet to indulge in this gastronomic adventure.) He ended by telling us a tale about how, once in Saudi Arabia, he’d asked a woman where he could find the washroom, and she called the police, who explained to him that it is against Muslim law to ask a woman such a crude question, and that if he’d been Muslim, instead of Indian, he would’ve been arrested for such an act. His take on the situation? “It’s really stupid in Saudi Arabia.”

Wow.

Of course, I've got much more to say about my very bittersweet trip to Chicago, but for now, I'm off to night-night land.

My wonderful view from the Oak Brook, IL Marriott yesterday. Uplifting, no?

And then today, the view from my room and the brand new Residence Inn at Dearborn/Hubbard in downtown Chicago. Much better.

Plus I get to look at this:

A big ol' mural of Harry Caray's head and famous humongous glasses. Ah...Chicago.

Where I was yesterday:

Where I'll be tomorrow:

The posting may be a bit sporadic as I venture up to my old stomping grounds for a couple of days of work. Haven't been there since 2004. Looking forward to it.

An exercise in humility.

• You go to Kohl's and buy two packs of long-overdue bikini underwear.
• Get them home, free them from their packaging, and throw them in the laundry.
• Once washed and dried, you look happily forward to wearing your new unders and throwing away several of your old unders that are riddled with holes.
• You pull on the first pair and realize that, oh holy Mother of God, they're not one, but TWO sizes too small.
• You catch a glimpse of yourself in the bathroom mirror wearing these too-small unders.
• You quietly take them off and throw them away.

(Luckily, only one package was the wrong size...and I SWEAR, I double checked to make sure they were the right size before purchasing. But still...)

Buy me this.

When I was 4 or 5-ish, my mom had a white one with a dark red vinyl interior. I loved it. I would sleep up in that big back window. Not very safe, I realize, but neither was riding in her lap and "steering" while we drove down the interstate, which is something else I did when I was that age.

I saw this beauty (it's a '73 Buick Riviera, btw) the other day, and just had to take a photo. The inside is just as lovely as the outside.

They just don't make 'em like they used to, do they?

Where was I...?

Oh yes. At the beach. Only a few short daze ago.

Truth be told, this past weekend was originally the weekend we'd planned to get married. But life happens, and we postponed the Big Day, and haven't managed to reschedule yet. So we decided that even though we weren't getting hitched this past weekend, we at least deserved a long weekend away together. So Dah agreed to keep The Geej, and we hopped on a plane for a short ride to the southern tip of the state for some R&R.

It was a great trip. We relaxed. We people-watched. We read. We rode around in this (with the top down, of course):

We walked on the beach where we saw some of this (kite boarding). It looks so fun, but SO hard. And it was perfect weather for it on this particular day, i.e., windy as hell.


We also saw a LOT of this:

Seriously, smokers. What the FUCK?! It's bad enough when you throw the butts out of your car window and think it's not littering, but on the beach? Really?! Shame on you.

We saw a few of these


Tangled up in a lot of this.

I'm not sure what was going on, but on day 3 we were there, the tide brought in TONS of this stuff. It was less than pleasant.


We also went birding. This was a first for me, but BH is all about our fine feathered friends. South Texas is supposed to be a primo migratory birdwatching spot this time of year. (This is the type of thing you learn when you're in love with a wildlife biologist.) However, they haven't gotten substantial rain down in the valley for months, so everything is dry as it can be and, as a result, not very appealing to migratory birds. We did see quite a few species, but not the overwhelming multitudes that are usually down there during mid-April.

One preserve we went to actually suffered a major fire (a result of the dry conditions) two days before we went there to check it out. Luckily, there were other parts of the preserve that were unharmed. The palm forest, for instance. I got to see green jays and chacalacas and indigo buntings buff-bellied hummingbirds and numerous other birds for the first time ever.And also, at this preserve, I got to see the Rio Grande for the very first time.
We were also surprised with fireworks while we ate dinner on a pier on the bay our first night there.

One night, we even pondered the Great American Dilemma:

We were lucky enough to see a couple of amazing sunsets.

Basically, we had a very, very nice time.

We'll go back again. Hopefully soon...

Yes, she made it.

Sorry to leave you hanging with that last post.

The good news? She made it to the potty in the nick of time.

So why the absence from the interwebs? I swear, this time wasn't activity-induced laziness. The fact of the matter is that BH and I escaped and went here for a long weekend.

The weather was (almost) perfect, and we had a very, very nice time. I'll fill in the gaps tomorrow, but for now, I'll leave you with a few more beauty shots.


Night night, friends.

Me: Honey, do you need to go tee tee?

Her: No.

Me: Are you sure?

I have lots of stuff to blog about.

No really. I do. But I'll let the photos do (most) of the talking.

Like how this past Saturday was the 3rd anniversary of the Geej's "gotcha" day (the day her adoption became official), and that means that we're offically done with the 3 years' worth of post-placement reports that have to be filed with the Russian government. Yay!! We celebrated by going to a movie (her first!) and then eating at the food court in the mall where the movie theater was (again, a first). She hadn't been to the mall since she was about 10 mos. old, and it was sort of baffling to her. She kept asking me, "What IS this place?"

And like how if you agree to play "animal doctor" with The Geej, you'd better clear your calendar for the afternoon because you're going to have a waiting room full of sick creatures needing healing.

And about how she calls confetti "fiesta," corn-on-the-cob "corn-on-the-cop," lip balm "lip chap" and convertibles "vertical cars."

And about how last Saturday evening, BH and I were lucky enough to attend my friend Laura's fabulous 40th birthday soiree cruising up and down Lake Austin.

The weather was perfection.

The company was grand.

The food and drinks were delicious.

And our vessel was named the "Miss High Life."

It just doesn't get much better.

Oh wait, yes it does. Because when you move the party essentials (i.e. vodka and cupcakes)

back to the host's house and play Rock Band

while also loving on their enormous dog, that pretty much ensures you've had the perfect evening.

And that was just SATURDAY.

Sunday, the Geej and I attended Mags's youngest's 4th birthday princess extravaganza, and the Geej deepened her love affair with fancy dresses, and body glitter.

This week's a busy one as I try and cram 5 day's worth of work into 4, because BH and I are taking off on a mini-vacation to the beach this weekend. And lord, do I need it.

More soon...

I can't believe I'm even going to type this.

But here's the deal, I think The Geej could be a model. Case in point:

There she is, at the bottom of this banner ad recently featured on an online parenting site. Her image was also recently featured in her school's electronic newsletter and also on the website of a photographer we used to take some pictures of her to give out for Christmas presents.

The girl does NOT take a bad photo. Ever.

But the thought of child modeling sort of icks me out. I mean, from there, it's just a slippery slope to beauty pagents, eating disorders, and chain smoking while doing lines of coke during Fashion Week. Right?

In which another one of my million dollar ideas goes up in smoke because someone has already thought of it.

I'm sorry, Jaye. But it appears our idea is already in production. And I'll be damned if they don't even have a white paper about their product. The paper's title? "Know the Enemy Within." However, this version of our idea doesn't have as catchy of a name as "TootMaster 3000". But still...

Bastards.

On a much happier note, would you PLEASE check out Cashew and Libby? If only more of the world could be like this...

Late to the party.

I'm in Colorado for work. I'm exhausted. But I thought about this meme in the plane all the way up here, and so I decided to do it. Some of my favorite bloggers have already done it some time ago, so I'm a bit behind the curve. But that is typical for me.

In case you've been sleeping, the rules are these:

1. Think of 10 movies you adore, then go to IMDB and get some quotes from those movies.
2. Post these quotes and ask readers to guess what movies they come from. NO GOOGLING OR CHEATING, readers, because that's just lame.
3. NEW RULE: One guess per reader, por favor.
4. Once a correct guess has been made, you credit the reader.

Simple, no?

Okay, let's get started...

(My apologies for the random underlining every now and again. It's a cut and paste thing...)

#1:
“Until you do right by me, everything you even think about gonna fail!”
Damn you, La Turista!! Yes, you DO know me so well. And yes, this is from The Color Purple. I personally love to stick my fingers out toward my enemies and lay this curse on them in my best Celie voice whenever possible.

#2:
“Take this quarter, go downtown, and have a rat gnaw that thing off your face! Good day to you, madam.”
La Turista strikes again. (I accidentally left out the rule where you're only supposed to guess one movie per person...oh well.) Uncle Buck. My very favorite John Candy movie. So sweet. So funny. And this scene? Where Buck tells off the principle at Maisy's school? Classic.

#3:
“Where do you get off behaving that way with women you don't even know, huh? How'd you feel if someone did that to your mother or your sister…or your wife?”
Ahh...Bookhart. This quote is from the scene where they make that obnoxious trucker pull over and then give him a tongue lashing before blowing his big rig away. But I'll never EVER forget laying eyes on Brad Pitt for the first time in Thelma & Louise. I went to see it with La Turista up at the old Lincoln movie theater up by Highland Mall, and I remember we both left the movie breathless. One, because of Brad, but secondly, because we'd never seen a movie about women quite like that.

#4:
When I came out into society I was 15. I already knew then that the role I was condemned to, namely to keep quiet and do what I was told, gave me the perfect opportunity to listen and observe. Not to what people told me, which naturally was of no interest to me, but to whatever it was they were trying to hide. I practiced detachment. I learn how to look cheerful while under the table I stuck a fork onto the back of my hand. I became a virtuoso of deceit. I consulted the strictest moralists to learn how to appear, philosophers to find out what to think, and novelists to see what I could get away with, and in the end it all came down to one wonderfully simple principle: win or die.
Yawn. La Turista. Again. She correctly guessed Dangerous Liaisons. I am a sucker for period films, John Malkovich, Baroque music, and Glenn Close. So the combo? Tres perfectique. I would give a jillion dollars to hoist my boobs up and get into one of those awesome costumes and play a role as meaty as the one Ms. Close owns in this film.

#5:
You know, I used to be in the music business, but now I'm what you might call retired. It's a refined name for bum.

#6:
Main Character: I can't believe it. I've been looking all over for this place. I don't know why, really. I spent a couple of days there when I was a kid, and, and I just remember having a really good time.
Old Motel Clerk: Me, too. My brother and I drowned a cat there once.
Main Character: Is that right?

#7:
Character 1: Do you know what the hell we had to go through after you took the car?
Character 2: Yeah, it was a dick move on my part. That's why I'm paying for your meal. [looks down to count money] Here's 80 for the meal, and 200 for the car
Character 3: What did you do to my car?
Character 2: I made some love stains in the back. You'll see...
Yep, Jaye--it's Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. The best movie about pot and sliders ever made.

#8:
Female: How come you don't play during daytime? I see you here everyday.
Male: During the daytime people would want to hear songs that they know, just songs that they recognize. I play these songs at night or I wouldn't make any money. People wouldn't listen. Female: I listen.
Good call, Tuli. This quote is indeed from Once. I fell utterly in love with Dublin and Glen Hansard in this film. Amazing soundtrack.

#9:
Sicilians are great liars. The best in the world. I'm Sicilian. My father was the world heavy-weight champion of Sicilian liars. From growing up with him I learned the pantomime. There are seventeen different things a guy can do when he lies to give himself away. A guys got seventeen pantomimes. A woman's got twenty, but a guy's got seventeen... but, if you know them, like you know your own face, they beat lie detectors all to hell. Now, what we got here is a little game of show and tell. You don't wanna show me nothin', but you're tellin me everything. I know you know where they are, so tell me before I do some damage you won't walk away from.
The "Anonymous" Jimmy guessed correctly: True Romance. Although super violent, I love this damn movie, for this scene, if for nothing else--Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken at the height of their game, just chewing up the scene.

#10:
Female: God, don't you ever feel like everything we do and everything we've been taught is just to service the future?
Male 1: Yeah I know, like it's all preparation.
Female: Right. But what are we preparing ourselves for?
Male 2: Death.
Male 1: Life of the party.
Male 2: It's true.
Female: You know, but that's valid because if we are all gonna die anyway shouldn't we be enjoying ourselves now? You know, I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor insignificant preamble to something else.
Dazed and Confused it is, Sus. One of the most quotable movies ever, and filmed in Austin, to boot!

When a picture is worth a thousand "Screw Yous!"

As Julie said when she saw this: "I would NOT want to be that baby when they get home from the store." Amen, sister.

This little demon spawn is the same child who has recently made the following observations while riding in the car:

"Mommy, if we got our arms chopped off, we wouldn't be able to wave."

"Rain is like music, only softer."

"Mommy, what is 'war'?" (While listening to NPR.)

"My head fur is sweaty." (Translation: forehead)