my best friend's wedding

hola chicas'n'chicos-

this weekend my best friend annie got married down in CT... she's been the buttah on my wholegrain toast for 15 years now- mira..! that's a whole lot of viewings of national lampoons xmas vacation, feedings of ungodly proportions, and mucho vino. i've even seen her facedown in a bomb crater in normandy and of course there was that wickid bizzah time i ended up with one of her leftover boyfriends ;) oooh- that's a whole 'nuther blogpost right there.

anyways- back to the point. the entire wedding was picture-perfect from start to finish. it was beautiful weather, a lovely ceremony and of course the reception was kick-ass. it was so wonderful to be there for her big day and to catch up with her family too- she's got the kind of flawless fam that instantly sucks you in and spits you out an honorary member... i hold the coveted title of 'favorite nephew.' ;) in addition to all of that, she was kind enough to invite my parents too- and i have to say it was most heartwarming to see them enjoying themselves all night long. i was momentarily horrified when they got up and actually started dancing- but there were no calamities, fractured hips or ambulance rides outta there, so it was all good in the hood. and there were also a few random friends i hadn't seen in ages- lots of gaps to fill in and a good time all around.

some pics:



here's annie and jack- he's a definite keepah... it also doesn't hurt that he's a nyc firefighter and the boys of the firehouse were well-represented saturday night :P




cake-age:


the parental units:












and now the pole-dancing spectacle that was annie's mum, big g and some random chick...


and i absolutely love this one:

a public service announcement and a little fuzzy eyecandy

i recently went to target and bought a giant plastic tub for all of my school stuff from previous semesters. i was getting tired of the piles everywhere- on the table, in the spare room, on the bedroom floor... nothing like tripping over a little linguistic anthropology or stubbing a toe on immigration law when reaching for the snooze button at o'dark hundred when the alarm does its thing.

so yeah- a plastic tub. endless amusement when i took the lid off and discovered this no-baby-storage-warning:



only in america do you need to put a label on a plastic storage bin to remind the wickid smaht average consumer that despite its tempting convenience, tupperware with a tightly sealing lid is probably not your first choice when tucking junior into bed. it's paper *not plastic* people!

on a completely unrelated note... i'd like to say thanks to the hot construction worker across the street who decided to ditch the t-shirt and help keep my workdayclock movin' most of the afternoon today. too bad the windows to my office are filthy and my cell phone's camera can only do so much... you'll just have to take my word on it- mighty fine indeed.





ok- the sox are up 4 to 1 in the 4th inning and the brownie sundaes are almost ready...

have a good weekend-

g

baltisox roadtrip 07

so last weekend j.mo, j2 and myself packed up senor pablo with hummus, chips, nuttah buttahs, diet pepsi and clean undies


and joined the red sox convoy headed south to baltimore to catch saturday night's game.

friday night we stopped in ct to dine with the parentals and enjoy a little late summer campfirebliss as well...


firesafetyjohnny keeping his distance from the inferno


big g in the middle of his fireside touch-hole monologue (yes, you had to be there. no i can't explain) with jon coping fabulously well with the residents of the schwartz family compound)


saturday morning we set sail:


baltimore's a little rough around the edges, but the inner harbor is nice...




that odd maryland state flag


thanks to mistah shatner's kungfu priceline price slashing, we had a lovely hotel room with a decent view of the harbor:




and despite the fact the sox had their asses handed to them, camden yards was a great park- there were so many red sox fans there it nearly could have passed for a home game:







ahhhh- nothing says scenic americana quite like the glorious smokestacks of the jersey turnpike. i wish i still had the two pages of papisbigbook that managed to get stuck to the front license plate of the car. no joke- we stopped to pee and get spray-on buttered auntie annie's pretzels and there were two pages of the bible in spanish stuck to our license plate. how very jersey!


shhhhhh! pollo consado


definitely a good weekend- to be repeated next year... biggah and bettah!

say it ain't so...

i'm so not ready for the week to start tomorrow... wonder what the chances are of canceling tuesday due to lack of interest?

after sleeping in i went jogging, hoping i might be able to out-run the remnants of the previous two days. but at the 5-mile mark i more or less gave up and instead sat in the shade, watching the world go by at castle island.

about two weeks ago my grandma got sick and ended up in a nursing home after a brief stay at the hospital. things started to settle down a bit and she began adjusting to her new home and eagerly started exercising, eating well, etc all with the motivation of getting better enough to move back to her apartment. so after we went and visited her and saw how high her spirits were and how determined she was to get back to her own home and her routine, i was feeling pretty optimistic that things would work out the way she wanted.

until she got sick again (this time with pneumonia) and wound up back in the hospital. j.mo and i went to see her on saturday and sunday- i'm so grateful that we got to spend some time together, because it's becoming quite clear that she won't be here much longer. on saturday it was so hard not to cry when she said she wanted to see grandpa and her sisters and that she was just ready to go.

for her sake i do hope things peacefully wind-down and she drifts off in the middle of a real good dream. we were there yesterday as she was moved back to the nursing home and made all her wishes known re: just being kept comfortable with no heroic measures or return trips to the hospital. she looked so small and tired in that big bed, but certainly didn't let on if she was feeling less than stellar.

since i was little i've always been close to my grandma- we've spent a lot of time together. she's always made it a point to know what i'm up to, where i'm going, and how i'm doing. even when i was away in australia, she never failed to send at least a letter every month... and we talked on the phone nearly as often so she could fill me in on all the important stuff like what was happening on ER. i've always loved her no-nonsense approach to everything, these days becoming her last chapter included. she's lived on her own for a long time and did everything exactly the way she wanted. when she met john the first time she understood it all and never asked a single question- he was instantly added to her big 'ol list of grandkids.

so i guess i've just been a little sad today. remembering the things i love about her so much and not being able to imagine what must be on her mind right now. i'm going to miss her, both as my grandma and as one of my closest friends. i hope the rest of her time here is as good to her as she has been to all of us.