a few more pics from paris...

in addition to all the digital pics we took, i blew the dust off of my camera, stocked up on film, and did some old school picture takin- the picture quality/color is a little funny when they put them on cd, but some of the pics came out pretty good :)

pics from paris

finally got around to getting some pictures online!

enjoy :)

because what can't we have? yup, nice things...

like functioning public transport...

j.mo and i are leaving for paris tonight for a quick 4 day trip/sanity break/honey-i-shrunk-the-vacation...


PARIS, France (CNN) -- France's public transportation network came to a halt Thursday as public sector workers staged a series of strikes in what is seen as the first big test for President Nicolas Sarkozy's government.



i get the feeling we're gonna be doing a lot of walking the next few days...

;)

mind cho bidness

so despite the sore throat and the work craziness that was 4 people with mexican passports stranded in vienna since they didn't realise they needed visas to go to albania (if you're mexican and are going to albania you might want to check that whole visa thing *before* you get on a plane for tirana), all day long i was looking forward to coming home and taking one very excited puppy named franklin for nice long walk... luckily the rain let up and it was happystrollin' for everyone.

at the end of our walk we returned home to find our patch of mostly dead front yard overrun with all the neighborhood kids. most of them are ok enough- but there are two in particular that should have been flushed long ago when they were still of flushable dimensions. we debated planting a couple of land mines in the front yard over the summer. but while undeniably effective, we were a little concerned about property resale value post-detonation. so we passed on the land mines.

so yeah- kids. everywhere. there's one girl- about 8 years old, scraggly red hair, and incessanlty screaming as if she's been hog-tied to the roof of a minivan and driven through an automatic carwash. she's the same girl that most intelligently decided to try and climb the chainlink fence between our house and the neighbors this summer and ended up getting her denim shorts stuck on the fence straddling the top if it. i remember being at the dining room table that day doing schoolwork and hearing a whimpering sound. and there she was, stuck on the fence, using her treestump mental prowess to try and figure out a way out to detach her crotch from our fence. priceless was our neighbor, who hearing the same whimpering, stuck her head out the window and said 'mira chica, you better get off that fence before you hurt your punta...'

anyways- she was there today screaming away. along with the obnoxious shithead little boy that insists of being a hyper-moron every chance he gets. like last week when he turned on the queeny gay voice and told me he liked my 'pretty shoes.'

while some of the kids were petting franklin and asking questions like 'how old is he?' 'what kind of dog is he?' etc... that little dick asks me 'so do you live here?' yes i do. 'do you live alone?' no. 'do you have a roommate?' no. 'do you have a girlfriend?' NO. I DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. I HAVE A HUSBAND. he sure did clear out mighty quick.

:)(: happy friday. go sox!

mr franklin

what a complete sweetheart franklin turned out to be-


snoozepup:


this part is definitely still a work in progress:

and then we had a dog...

so j.mo and i drove out to an animal shelter in the great beyond that is western mass today to meet a few dogs we saw online. and by 4pm we were eating yet another round of auntie annie's greasebombpretzels off the side of the highway with franklin, the supercute beagle in the back seat. (a side note- after the trip to baltimore, the multiple trips to CT the past few weeks, and today's trek to fetch franklin we've stopped at the same rest stop on the masspike more times than i care to count at this point. and each time an egg-shaped he-princess in powderblue pretzel garb named michael is there to serve up disgustingly good fauxbutter infused twisted dough with way too much salt. mmm good eats.)

back to the dog.

here's franklin, all pooped from his big adventure today including car ride, cat-encounter, neighborhood walk and cootie-be-gone bath:


baby's first bath:


prepare yourselves for a whole lot of 'proud parent' posts :)

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!