season's greetings

spoiler alert: this isnt your average holiday message filled with sugar plum fairies. it's christmas day and i've just roasted a pan of vegetables, wrapped a box of artisan cheese, rearranged my tea/herb collection, vacuumed the house, and am headed out to walk the dogs. 5 days prior my family gathered for xmas at moms and i've been depressed ever since and dreading this day. aubrey dropped off his dog for the day and jumped in his family caravan to gwinnett. i am truly alone on christmas.
BUT, so far, its not actually bad. my time is TOTally my own. the day has warmed up and the sun has come out. and i'm receiving texts from folks who envy me. hmmm. well even if i'm not sure if this is a good thing, at least i had the buffer days to sulk and get it out of my system b/c i'm not actually bummed today. i didnt expect this, i figured it'd be worse than all the days leading to it. but thankfully one of the things i have learned in 46 years is that i dont like being depressed and can usually pull myself out of it within a reasonable period of time. i'm all about, feel what you feel and let it out...but i just need it to move on down the road and let me be. so i'm feelin a little chipper, looking forward to dad passin thru town in a few days, cooking a few meals with some friends in town over the next week, and catchin some hoops. somehow i think i have survived christmas alone. i dont recommend it, but its doable i guess. season's greetings y'all.

annual december rant

yea its that month that i'm just trying to make it thru again. made all the more enjoyable by finally facing up to the irony of my life nowadays. the traveler has a dog that doesnt travel. not well anyway. as if mom scheduling the family xmas gathering 5 days before xmas isnt bubble bursting enough, it turns out my one faithful and trusty companion that i bring to the gathering of little nuclear families gets car sick. so add to the event the stress of a 4-hour journey in atlanta holiday traffic with a sick dog. boy could i use a f*&$ing massage about right now. no worries, i'll have plenty of time to schedule one if anybody is open this week b/c i have nothing else to do for the next 5 days. peace and joy everybody.

trade-offs

a friend left to work on a federal AIDS project in mozambique, africa in september, another friends wife went over to ethiopia with doctors without borders, another friend led a group of students from kenya to cape town setting up meaningful service abroad contacts, and yet another went with a women's initiative here to support a co-op in kenya, and lastly we ran a study abroad to tanzania from my office for the last 2 years. sooooo, i decided it was my time for africa and mary agreed. i figured the xmas holiday break was a good stretch of 'free' time off and although a tad too hot for my constitution, i'd make the journey.

simultaneously i decided to pursue graduate school what with the poor economy and it being no time to change jobs and thus i began the process of taking the GRE, gathering recommendations, and writing a fine statement of purpose with the editorial help of good people who know me. and for two months i have waited. yesterday the ball dropped. i had just tried to confirm flights to jo-burg using a delta buddy pass when a red flashing screen alert notified me that a travel embargo was now in place for all buddy pass travel between, yep, you guessed it, ATL and JNB from Dec. 20 to Jan. 4. their reasons were sound:

As a proactive measure, buddy pass travel is embargoed for all flights to/from Dakar (DKR) and Johannesburg (JNB) from Dec. 20, 2008 through Jan. 4, 2009. During last year's busy holiday season, the Dakar and Johannesburg stations experienced a tremendous backlog of stranded buddy passengers. Many were removed at the stopover in Dakar in the middle of the night!

yikes! not exactly the kind of risk i wanted to assume so africa is out...for now. i can only hope that mary's project is extended and she is perhaps still there at spring break. meanwhile, i still haven't heard about graduate school and i know that as of yesterday folks are registering for spring classes; so i write another email to the admissions staff and receive no answer...well not right away anyway.

and then today...it happened, they let me in! yep, i'm allowed to pursue a masters of public administration. yahoo!!!!!! AND they tell me, make sure you are here on January 2 for a mandatory orientation. whew, good thing that africa trip fell through or i'd woulda missed it. so i guess things really do happen for a reason and i'm glad i didnt fight it too much. it all worked out in the end. trade-offs and my new home, baldwin hall.

hoops season is here

got my season tix in the mail last week, after 3 rounds of delivery attempts by the postmaster. i appreciate her making sure i got 'em. i also appreciate the ticket wizard allowing me to move down this year with my peeps. finally got outta double consonants and down into single ones near some colleagues. this also allows me to escape the usher nazis who keep double consonant folks up top where they belong.
and so far, a few games in, we look like we might have some stand out guys. zac swansey's gonna get some PT for sure, leslie, ware, and woodbury will settle into a routine i bet, but if the big guys, jackson and thompkins dont get healthy, barnes and price are gonna have to step up. i would like to see brewer get a chance to do more than come in off the bench cold, hit a 3-pointer (every time) and sit back down. but mostly i'm just happy felton pulled off the SEC victory last year so he has one more year here to try and make a difference. i support him no matter what b/c he puts academics, behavior, and life first. now if i can get mom to secure tix to a few hawks games this season i'll be all set w/hoops.

call me a cyclist

yeah, you could call me a cyclist and you should. i bike to work and i bike for fun. always have when given the option for nearly 20 years now. biked at UGA, biked in DC, biked in CA, biked in NY, now back to GA. it all started in college when i actually took cycling as a p.e. credit. i rode with a class full of guys who later that year, started the first UGA cycling team. i was on a mountain bike, they were on road bikes. granted it was an early model univega 15-speed circa 1985, but i had a whole lot more frame and rubber to push than they did so its worth noting the difference. but something clicked (pardon the pun) and i truly learned how to ride and loved it, even when i skidded out in sand on sanford drive en route to class one day and shredded my hands.
my first x-country trip was summer of 1987 with Tammy and we strapped our bikes to the roof of her isuzu CAR, not SUV, and it didnt have a roof rack. we stayed in youth hostels and rode bikes in Manhattan, KS; Estes Park, CO; Seattle, WA; Vegas, and more...until i had a nasty fall and got my knee stitched up.
later, a good friend in DC, Steve, turned me onto a touring model trek 420 in 1990 and i bought my second bike. i commuted to work in DC daily, yearround and filled the paniers with everything from suits to camping gear. well, okay i took a break in jan/feb during snowstorms. but i never owned a car the 10 years i lived there; but it was easy to do b/c mckinsey had showers in a small locker room in the office for those so inclined. i biked to shop, to ultimate frisbee, to work and then just to ride paths on the weekend. steve and i lined up several bike tour vacations, not with a group, just on our own. we toured the adirondacks of upstate NY over to Cornwall and thru Saranac Lake. we toured the san juan islands and victoria out in washington state. and later I did an AIDS ride from DC to Philly with my friends Pat and Tom. we logged tons of miles training for that ride. my favorite was the W&OD rails-to-trails bike path out to Leesburg, VA from DC. i even rode out to a friends wedding in leesburg, where we all camped out afterwards. the ride was June of '96, cant believe its been that long.
flash forward to CA, i've moved across country to Berkeley to work in the SF office. i biked down to the BART station most days and took the subway under the Bay into the city. i biked paths with my dad in Foster City on a loop near his house and out by some resevoir whose name i've forgotten. we rode through the native plant botanical garden in berkeley up and over the hills, and i mean hills! then i took some time off and backpacked around europe. i biked the rhine route, followed the tour de france, rode all over the isle of skye, and basically rented a bike whenever and wherever i could.
eventually i tired of the hunched over posture of touring bikes that doesnt really work for a well-built woman in her late 30s lets say. so again, a friend turned me onto the trek 7500 hybrid. julie (who now lives in munich scouting odd bikes) let me test her bike and i loved it, so i bought another bike in 1997 and sold the touring model...to a woman with one leg! not kidding, she had a newly fitted prosthetic and wanted to get back in shape and loved the toe clips i had on the bike which helped keep her foot on. (oh yeah, by the way, the original univega is in my aunt's garage, for tooling around out in the country where she lives below Newnan.) the first real test for the hybrid was the hills of berkeley and it did fine...then i moved to Tahoe.
whew! not really my kind of biking, or maybe i was just getting older and wiser. sure i biked around the lake, as everyone does when they first move there, and i biked in town and to work at the park during my park ranger stint. i even rode up barker pass thru blackwood canyon a couple of times which is going from 6300 ft elevation up to say 7600 ft. b/c i lived at the foot of blackwood canyon and it was like, right there. but i never did the famous flume trail, that's for hardcore moutain bikers and i was never that. oh, i hiked the flume trail sure, and i was glad i wasn't on a bike. tahoe is full of thrill seekers and they make you think you are lame if you dont go all out, but i knew my limits and i'm still here to tell the story.
nowadays the blue trek hybrid gets me to work every day 2.5 miles one way and its never been better. i havent done any long rides lately, or biking vacations, and i'm kinda itching to, but i'm always up for the twilight criterium when it comes to Athens annually and i'm quick to bundle up and hike Brasstown Bald to watch Tour de Georgia especially when Floyd wins it or local riders like Cesar from the Jittery Joes Coffee team. so, the blue trek is ready and so am i. yeah, i'm a cyclist forever i think.
addtion:
julie mentioned above that there were rent-a-cycles all over munich now and it seems paris has caught the fever too. i cant wait to jet over there, land and hit the city on a bike. better pack a small pack. check out the NYT story on this.

change we can believe in

i'm back on board with america. last night watching barack obama's victory speech, i was truly the proudest of my country that i have ever been. i've voted for 8 presidents since i turned 18 and only won 3 times, clinton, clinton, obama. so altho i was in living in DC and estatic for clinton, it pales to this and i've truly never felt THIS before. its awesome and its gonna be great.
thanks for debating with me and hearing me out, i'm glad you all participated.

here's baracks email to volunteers last night:
tracie --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

i'll ask again, please give serious thought to voting for obama

these folks in missouri, ohio, nevada, battleground states like georgia, have all come around, listen to their own words about why. a filmmaker captured their honest thoughts and no campaign paid for it. http://truthandhope.org/localvoices/. it rings true for me, and i'm sure it will you too, if ya listen.

it's not too late to meet me in the middle, and know hope!

this is for my family, i've sent them my thoughts relentlessly and i'm sure they are tired of hearing it b/c they are all, it seems, firmly on the other side from me in choosing a president. but as people everywhere on every side are starting to see and do, its okay to meet in the middle. leave behind the blind political preferences and actually consider the candidate's character and policies they endorse on the ballot. its common sense. recognize that we are part of a change in history that is happening right this second and you can jump in too. there's room for everyone.

the 3 thoughts below that i shared this week on why obama is the right choice for america were actually from conservative and registered republicans, read their own words about why they are voting for obama. adrianne wrote at length on facebook "Republican Faithful on Why Obama v McCain" as to why she will vote for obama. note adrianne is:

republican
female
recent veteran from afghanistan
wealthy
harvard educated
wall street
voter.

wick allison, editor in chief of dallas magazine wrote A conservative for Obama is the answer this year, and note wick is:

male
republican
wealthy
southern
educated
voter

colin powell, former sec. of state, national security advisor and a serious man we all respect, shares his views on why his party just isn't suited to lead america right now and he will vote for the man who is, Obama. Powell Endorses Obama. and note, he is:

male
republican
black
son of immigrants
conservative
veteran
voter.

100,000 folks in st. louis just showed up for the largest obama campaign gathering ever. i think they are on to something, i know they are. so yeah, meet me in the middle and we'll do it together. and note joe the plumber has recanted, he now realizes his new business will be better off with obama's tax plan.

september days - cooler is better

my favorite month has almost come and gone and i find myself hoping to not notice as we transition in october. maybe it'll just feel like a 60-day long september. the air is dry, chilled, not exactly crisp yet, but cool. and the sunlight is lower in the sky and makes all the 'about to be' fall colors so brilliant. i even had to put on a scarf and fleece vest to bike in today. no socks yet, but what self-respecting cold weather fan would be wearing socks in september. i mean that is absolutely december, snowy weather, winter attire. altho, i did hear on CNN this morning that colorado had a first snow fall last night and robin meade was nutty enough to say, better them than us! girl you should step outside the studio today and see the glory of a fine fall day. cooler is better.

showing my colors

no its not a sports team, and i cant be thrown out of bars or schools for wearing it, but it is my true color. its my obama trek bike! the one i ride to work every day. look at that beautiful sticker that just happens to match the color of my bike. yep, i was always on the blue team but after the DNC last week i'm estatic to be on the team. i've been doing my part, helping register folks to vote in my neighborhood, phone banking, attending community meetings, supporting the campaign. and voting of course. and it all feels refreshing, empowering and just great. i'm just giddy at the hope of having great leadership with vision and real heart lead our country and turn it around for the future. edits: whaddya know? turns out there's more folks out there like me: www.bikeobama.com
lets face it, i mean i'm educated, i have a job, reasonable mortgage, health insurance, car is paid off, but there are days when i'm just this side of the line of failing and losing it all. i'm smart, successful, and i'm middle class and the low side of that too boot which is fine by me. i dont need much more than i have right now in life (okay maybe unlimited access to a mountain cabin). but the point is, i know many others who squeak by like this too. and do i think for a minute that mccain is gonna catch me when i fall? or catch my single mom friends when they fall? or truly take care of my mom in retirement? or provide a way for my young nieces and nephews to get to college? or for that matter even make me feel like i'm a fellow human being (who's not rich) but i matter. no. i dont. will obama? yes. and do i wanna hitch my cart to that wagon of hope, vision, change for the future? yes, i care about my fellow man and our planet and our future b/c thats how i roll. those are my true colors, if ya didnt know it before, ya know it now!

huckleberry season in idaho panhandle

the whole time i was there i never saw one, but i was looking up on trees and not down at ground cover where they supposedly are found. nonetheless, i tried them every which way. huckleberry colada, wine, lemon drop, ice cream, vinaigrette, cobbler, marinated flank steak, lemonade. i have a feeling i'll be having them again b/c mom asked me to bring home scone and muffin mix. until yesterday at my local farmer's market i was convinced that a huckleberry is just a blueberry in the northwest b/c the color is the same, taste similar, no seeds, and again i never saw one. i figured they just didnt know out there. but a couple of friendly foresters from montana, transplanted to athens, overheard me tell the fresh juice guy that i'd take a pint of blueberry lemonade and hope it tasted like huckleberry. they proceeded to tell me how much bears love 'em and how they saw plenty working the forests out there. so they do exist AND they are very much like a blueberry. aha!

plant a legacy

summer means reunion time and i went to my first college reunion evah up in the mountains. 25 years for my class, so thats a pretty big one, not that many of us showed or planned to. mostly i went b/c cathy cox was inaugurated as the college's new president. i shook her hand and told her i'd be up to work for in a couple years.
the best part was just being in the mountains again. ahhhhhhhhh, how they center me and just make the world seem friendly and embracing. they call it the enchanted valley and they arent kidding. my college friend's mom went to homecoming lunch with me b/c she lives nearby on a fabulous mountain farm. she's in love with the mountains too. all in all i saw 10-12 classmates, two of whom i'd known since second grade. (rena, i can finally rival you in knowing someone today that i've known since grade school.) funny part was, sure i knew them in college, and i forgot i knew them in high school but a recent browsing of those annuals reminded me, but i totally forgot until i saw them today, that i'd also known them since well, forever. thank goodness you all have better memory banks than i. so this homecoming thing, nah, it wasnt so bad, lunch was good, people are doing well, i'll have a new job in a few years that'll take me back to the hills of young harris college where i belong and i got a plant to take home to boot. 'twas a great day in the mountains.

goslabi!

regroup and recover. i guess i'm good at that b/c saturday was a new day scarlet! yep met a friend downtown for an evening of supporting a great local cause - Darius Goes West - know about it! went to the film screening, the most awarded at film festivals in 2007, then hopped across 2 streets to the nappy roots hip hop show at farm255. had a very summah time cocktail. cucumber cosmo. it was basically a cosmopolitan with fresh pulverized cuke in it. very refreshing. the crowd was huge and a bit overwhelming after a few hours so we hid out at flicker for some quiet time and somehow i found myself biking home at 130am! gee willickers, i didnt even know i could still stay up that late. good practice though for my vacation to idaho that starts sunday. my aunt says the summer sun is up at 530am and down at 1030p. midnight actually sneaks up on ya.
btw, goslabi is so hilarious but only the dvd does it justice. so...know about it.

yesterday's horoscope

Today's Full Moon falls in your 4th House of Foundations, motivating you to get to the bottom of an issue that's been bothering you recently. It may be scary to share your concerns with anyone else, yet you may discover that it's not nearly as bad as you expected once you get it out into the open. Don't put off an important discussion; it can change things for you in a positive way faster than you think.

i put it off...and now i regret it. i get to think about how much work stinks for the whole weekend. instead, i wrote it all down and dealt with it. thank you moon goddess.

strike out

feelin kinda july '05 here. no dates, no prospects. kinda pathetic. lemme lay it out for ya. its friday night, nice summer evening. folks are sitting outside in the cafes, braves are playing, (i think) and its the slow pace that we know as 'summer' down here where its hot.
phone call #1, which is really an email: hey xxx, stop surfing dating sites, turn off the tv and bike downtown to meet me for dinner and drinks. nada.
phone call #2, which is really a text: hey xxx, is 2nite the night u r gonna meet me at our local neighborhood bar and watch the braves and drink $1 beer? nada.
phone call #3, which is also a text: if i come up for homecoming next weekend r u gonna be around for a dayhike with the dogs? nada.
drop in #4, which is really a bike by on the way home: knock knock, u home? my beer buddy, handsome, bachelor, single-dad, neighbor guy? nada. nice plants.
idea #5, hmmm, a really frank, direct appeal to a former lover...nah better not.
oh i almost forgot subtle phone call pre #1, yesterday, which was actually a fb post to a guy who always answers: hey you up for some music saturday? nada
so we're talking more than a strike out here, i mean 5 swings? okay i get it, finally. go home and walk your dog and find a movie on or read a book. good thing i went to the library this week.
*sigh*

friendly fourth frivolity

ever have one of those moments where all is right with the world and your spirit is overflowing from 'clean livin' (as dickie used to say)? a bunch of great friends came over for the 4th and i'm writing to try to capture that feeling of not so much throwing a great party but just being at one. i live 5 blocks from the park so everyone could walk to fireworks and i have a huge fenced in shady yard. of course what made it great was the people who came. i may not have even had that many people here at one time since i bought the house. ~20 folks i've known for 20+ years in this great town and a few i've just met all stopped by with a cooler full of tasty refreshments, a dish, and a blanket to carry to the park for firework viewing. some just grabbed the hood of a nearby truck, a la lanie. even the mosquitoes seemed to cooperate, mostly. i'm sure the buckets of citronella, incense coils, cutter wipes and spray helped keep the bocce ball tournament going longer. and the picnic table proved to be the perfect size to hold all the goodness folks cooked up, lots of it from their own gardens. yum yum. i'm still enjoying brent's cabbage au gratin and i imagine everyone is trying to re-concoct shannon's cumin-laced guacamole. we had 2 huge afternoon thunderstorms break around 2pm and 4pm that looked daunting and threw down a few limbs off my huge backyard trees, but all in all it just cooled things off and after a quick toweling of the deck, it was a fine spot to spend the evening. i'm still enjoying the gorgeous sunflowers cindy brought and wondering what i'm to do with a case of sorta cold leftover cans of beer. everyone drinks tasty microbrews (we even have 3-4 breweries in town copper creek, terrapin, trapeze) so the kind soul who donated a just-in-case of bud musta been thinking about sunday beer reserves or something. this is still the bible belt afterall, and you cant buy it on sunday. maybe i should invite landscapers over to tidy up my stormy trees and pay them in beer!

ride at night....

although i almost fell off my bike of heat stroke today, i still say ride. check out this time-lapse video in hanoi of this busy intersection that hundreds of autos, scooters, bikes, rickshaws all pass thru with no traffic signals. maybe just ride at nite tho...i mean presumably its cooler.


Hanoi crazy night traffic from v!Nc3sl4s on Vimeo.

athfest 08

i know, i know, if you're not from here and don't know what this is already, it sounds like a gathering of folks who speak with a lisp or a festival honoring those who are often tongue-tied. well it's neither. athfest is athens' annual music festival which includes 200 artists and musicians performing downtown in one 3-day weekend. it spills over several blocks and all the clubs/restaurants open their doors to acts as well. $15 bucks gets you a wristband for the whole event. although i love the free outdoor stages its stinking hot here in late june so someone got wise and hooked up the mister lines and loads of sorbet vendors doesnt hurt. so at some point, the wristband pays for itself in other ways b/c you can go in for some A/C, more civilized bathrooms, and a cold beverage that's actually cold. there's a huge communal beer tent, so as to contain alcohol and keep it off the streets which is illegal here. several of my friends play, watch, listen, and just hang out. its a fun annual event here in a-town. and believe it or not we actually hear lots of new music...even in this town where folks think you've heard it all. peace.

girlz recharge

took a week off last week and went up to DC to reconnect with old friends, see dad for father's day and just be in a place i love. it was a fantastic week and i returned very zen, chilled, and recharged and that on top of a couple of days in the 90s heatwise. numerous events popped up to make fun treks to: lawn seats for REM at merriweather post pavilion w/rena & pat;
a DC united home match against NY redbulls where dad scored VW-sponsored box seats complete with free bratwurst, german beer, and VW sponsor seats to watch the 4 to 1 spanking; a second concert (boz scaggs, you know it: ledo missed the boat that day he left the shack...) at the other outdoor pavilion wolftrap for father's day preceeded by a brunch at the capitol hill institution and kay's favorite tunnicliff's; and touring the, well i'm gonna call it tim russert's, Newseum during the adjacent pride festival. note: 4 hours isnt enough time to see it all.
so when i arrived i bought a $10 metro card and put my urban bag on and hit the streets. one particularly hot day i even wore my camelbak until john reminded me they have running water most everywhere now. indeed they did, even when i stayed on capitol hill in my friend's lovely basement apartment. about town, i refamiliarized myself with walks to eastern market and introduced new DC'ites nash and tom to it, union station, barracks row, and cleveland and woodley parks. i met up with an old friend and neighbor vas, and later pat, in my old hood and was delighted to recognize most businesses along the pedestrian villagey strip and could almost step right back into my former life. indeed i even walked up to my former residence, knocked on the door, and gave my landlord a big hug and a how've you been porch sitting session ensued. most all my girlz are moms now so i also met a few kids, dogs, and spouses this visit. all in all, it was a great week. i hope you all get one soon.

today's horoscope

You are moving out of your comfort zone and reaching toward a new way of expressing your creativity. You may not be clear about where you are going, but you are still ready to head on out. Don't start your new venture quietly. Turn it into a party and invite the best people you know. The bigger the splash today, the better the show will be in a few months.
amen!

naming my hound dog

he was living next door just on the other side of the fence, but tall enough so i could reach over and pet him. he had to be the softest dog ever. so i petted him and talked to him for a few days. i knew i loved big ole hounds after sean found boss (a great dane/hound mix) in tahoe and he came to live with us and go everywhere we did. he's still the best dog ever.
so finally the neighbor appears at the fence one day and says, you know i'm fostering him right? well, that was all it took. i knew in my heart in that moment that he would come live on the other side of the fence soon. for a few days i hid my excitement so as not to upset my boyfriend and his current dog. but then aubrey indicated what an awesome dog he thought the brown dog in arva's yard was. so i wrote a note and left it on her front door that we wanted him. then i endured the numerous non-stop phone calls and personality of the very pushy dog rescue lady (who only wants to find good homes for pets i know), filled out the applications, and opened the fence gate and invited him over. actually we did a test run a few days earlier to see how our pups played together and they got along famously from the first moment.

they are both brown and white, but in opposite places and he's tall and she's short, he's a boy and she's a girl, so they are sort of negatives of each other.

after a few days, we reached the 'what do we name him?' stage, i wont even say what silly name the rescue folks had given him. it was clear he needed to be named for his color, reddish-brown, the color of tea in the south flanked with freckled white legs. for a few days i mulled over boring brown derivatives and then switched tactics to naming him based on his personality. he was so laid back and easy going, and just lumbered around like your best friend in summers after school was out, who was always up for anything and everybody wanted him along b/c he was so easy to get along with. charlie or eddie or henry came to mind. so we thought, yeah charlie, its fun to walk out in the yard and say hey charlie, come on in. but the first time we tried it, he was interested in a squirrel or something so we had to call him a couple of times and like all parents who call out both your names when they really mean it and want you to come, we found ourselves saying charlie, charlie brown! yeah, charlie brown, that's it. so his name is charlie brown and it really suits him. yesterday he tolerated all the toddlers in the park hugging on him and of course, they loved his name. its one month ago today that he came to live with us and we are the lucky ones. you're the best charlie brown!
addendum: at one years old and change, we cant leave old shoes lying about, but if we do at least we get to say good grief charlie brown.

mine and gabriel's music

thanks to the other blogs i read, i found this cool mixed tape site and made one for my old friend gabe, whom i credit with exploring and building my musical tastes after college. if you want to make some of your own, as it says below it's mixwit. i warn you the site is addictive, you'll see.

maplover's road map

next destination: triangle of couer d'alene, idaho; bend, oregon; banff, canada later this summer. and next year i'm thinking croatia, or bhutan, or amsterdam. odd assortment perhaps, but recent reading has reminded me of places that were worthy of moving up the list. "Fly Solo, The 50 Best Places on Earth for a Girl to Travel Alone" by Teresa Rodriguez Williamson rated places according to a unique scale she created called CAWS celebre. CAWS assesses these 4 criteria: culture, activity level, weather, social scene. give it a try.

fun dog days at work

yes, its true, i know the identity of spike, but i'm sworn to secrecy. i've seen him at georgia basketball games and witnessed his accidental deflation, the quick switch in front of fans where he inverts inside the costume and walks on his head, and a mean half-court and at times backwards shot. yep. but on this day he simply stopped in the ILA office while making his rounds and showed us some dawg love. we got a few ear wags and head butts. go spike!

georgia's aquarium

we wrapped up athens' elementary school spring break in atlanta at the aquarium just as all of atlanta-area schools got out for spring break. luckily there are lots of fish to go around. chris and the kids got up close with the fish while deedee and i rested on the benches. they have plenty of places to sit/rest all throughout and especially in the ocean voyage back room where they have a whale shark feeding show.
you need at least 4 hours to get through all of it, which includes a snack at the cafe, and then contrary to the safety rules posted everywhere i recommend blinders for the gift shop conveniently placed between you and the outside world.
luckily you can pose with deepo, the mascot modeled after the orange garibaldi fish, just before running the gauntlet. and for those of you who arent sure your little girls like fish, dont worry, they have pink ones!

egg drop

back in my day, the Easter bunny came while you were sleeping and left eggs hidden in the yard and perhaps a basket filled with some candy to use for collecting those in the yard. nowadays a giant bird, also known as a helicopter, flies over a huge neighborhood park and drops prize-filled eggs where hordes of kids are waiting to collect them. a local church and radio station sponsored it and the turnout was much larger than they expected. luckily we live nearby and got in line early and got in. it was crazy and the kids only managed to find a few eggs although over 20,000 were dropped. it was a frenzy to say the least. Madison came in second in musical chairs and nick won a widdle waddle race, it was a fun, family-oriented Easter event.

good luck masquerading as bad

at first it was startling, but then later it was more like divine intervention. aubrey sends this pix message and i rush home from work to meet the tree guy, the firemen, the electric powermen and my brother to survey the damage. he calls a tree surgeon who cuts the tree off the house within hours; then the power guys hooks our lines back up and we are back in business. within a week, though something is amiss with our water bill and we wonder if the tree falling ruptured a line. a useless assessment later from a plumber, my brother finds the small problem and repairs it. within the month, my fabulous homeowners plan sends an assessor and settles the claim and i get a new roof, new trees, new plumbing and i'm feeling pretty lucky.