Sara and her tiny bottle of wine. I think even the owner of the wine bar felt a little ridiculous opening it and pouring it for her. As you can also see, we left the coffee bar in such a hurry, Sara was still drinking her iced mocha by the time we made it to the wine bar.

Love is...

Saturday night didn't start out so good for John. We were supposed to get together with Becky and Brian and Sara and Chuck and Julie for a game night. Becky and Brian couldn't come, and Chuck had to work, but Sara and Julie still wanted to do something. Once John hears neither Chuck nor Brian are coming along, he proclaims he has to have sex with all girls involved or he's not going. Sad face #1. Then we decide to go to the little coffee shop up the street that has live entertainment on the weekends. We walk in and are completely submersed in lesbians. Lesbians singing, playing guitar, playing the keyboard, drinking coffee, swaying to the music. Everywhere you looked there were lesbians. We hurriedly drank our coffee, after I accidentally spilled some of mine on one of the lesbians' kids. (whoops!!) (It was mostly just foam, it wasn't really hot.) John shot me dirty looks every half second, and so we left. When we got back in the car Julie said she wondered on our way into the coffee shop why there were so many bad looking people in that bar. These were not lipstick lesbians, these were 50-60 year old short grey hair lesbians. Sad face of John's #2. From there we headed to my favorite place in St. Louis to go out; 33, which is a wine bar in Lafayette Square. Sara had the tiniest bottle of wine I'd ever seen. John had a beer, which should cancel out the lesbians. Then we went to Square One Brewery where we all had beer. John even ordered chicken wings. Things were looking up for him....until we asked him to go get the car, which was like 10 freezing ass cold blocks away. He didn't even say yes or no, he just hung his head and headed for the door. Sad face #3.

To put the cherry on the top, he was sick all day Sunday. I think he might have had estrogen poisoning.

Fun with photoshop. There was a great mural on the back wall, but it was hard to make the mural show up and not have Sara and Julie as white as ghosts.

Julie and Sara

shakira

Bonita

White Girls Can't Dance

John and I have new additions to our list. John now likes Shakira after seeing this video. I was already a big fan of the song. We don't see many videos, but we went last weekend to Twisters in Ste. Gen with our bed and breakfast guests for a drink and the bar showed the video. I'm not sure who comes off his list, maybe he can comment on that.

My new addition is

Columbus Short. I saw him in the new movie Stomp the Yard. I tend to have crushes on actual characters in movies, and so once cupid shoots his arrow, I could watch that actor in anything. For example, Daniel Day-Lewis will forever be on my list for his role in Last of the Mohicans. This is one of if not the best movie ever made. The part where he tells her to stay alive and he will find her, no matter what, that got me hook, line and sinker. I also had a huge crush on Tobey Mcguire in Cider House Rules. I liked the story less than I liked his character. I have never seen Columbus Short in anything else, but you can be sure I will be looking for him. I guess maybe John Corbett comes off my list.

The state of the St. Louis City Schools is a sad one. They did send me an Adult Education booklet, and so last Wednesday I went to a Health and Fitness class at one of the local Middle Schools. I could walk to this Middle School if I had too, but it's like 33 degress outside, so I chose not to. It's supposed to be Low Impact Aerobics. The first class was extremely lame, the instructor talked to us for 15 minutes about eating healthy and organic foods, then we did 10 minutes of stretching, and then we ran the steps of the school twice. I figure I'll go one more time next week in the hopes that it gets better. I think the city schools are really missing an opportunity though. I think they should teach a "step" or "stomp" class. Not like you step on and off a step, but instead step like they do it in this movie. There has to be people affiliated with the public school system in the city that can step, right? It does create a funny picture in my head, and I would feel bad for the instructor trying to teach a bunch of white people how to step.

I think Shakira would even throw up her hands in desperation at the sight of my incoordination.

You Know You're Old When

you and a friend who is 21 days younger than you go to the movies and they charge you full price and they charge her the student price.

They were mighty tasty.











Last Year Picture
Last Year Yesterday
Last Year Three Days Ago
Two Years Ago Yesterday
Two Years Ago Yesterday Picture #1
Two Years Ago Yesterday Picture #2
Two Years Ago Yesterday Picture #3
Two Years Ago Yesterday Picture #4
Two Years Ago Yesterday Picture #5
Two Years Ago Three Days Ago

What's the verdict on all the old links? I know how I feel. You like looking at all those old posts?

John and I had a hankering for some German pretzels.

Another one for Mike.


















Two Years Ago Picture #1
Two Years Ago Picture #2
Explanation of Pictures
How In The World Do I Still Have More To Say?

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is my mom's birthday. This is her and I in Las Vegas over Valentine's Day/President's weekend 1999. Mom flew in to Fresno, and we drove to Las Vegas for the weekend. It was a good trip.

"Are you looking down upon me?

Are you proud of who I am?

There's nothing I wouldn't do

To have just one more chance

To look into your eyes

and see you looking back "

-Christina Aguilera-Hurt

Last Year

Two Years Ago

Bribery was a parental tactic my mom used well.



I miss her handwriting.


Last Year
Two Years Ago
Two Years Ago Picture
Even More From Two Years Ago
I had a lot to say on January 18, 2005!

2 Years

2 years have come and gone on this blog. This blog has changed me a tiny bit. I don't write in my journal much anymore. I have started printing the blog to put in the journal, but that gets expensive as far as color ink goes. I didn't write a Christmas letter this year. You all know what's going on for us, no need to reiterate it through a Christmas letter. The blogging world has opened new friendships, and shed light on friend's worlds, like Robin and Katie.

I started this blog (I think) to be able to talk to you all, without bothering you everyday with phone calls. I started this blog because (I think) I missed my daily conversations with my mom. I started this blog because I felt the need to reach out to girls without actually reaching out and admitting that I missed that female presence in my life. I'm a talker, I talk through problems. I talk about everything and nothing (as this blog has so poignantly pointed out, and John gets so sick of.)

"Blogger" or "Blogspot" has upgraded, and so I have switched this blog to the new version starting tonight. The main difference is the labels at the bottoms of posts, so I can categorize what each post is about. Fascinating. I also plan to steal an idea from Farmgirl and give links back to what was going on last year and the year before.

I did some tallying, and I have a feeling this may add numerous dirty looks coming my way from my husband. I'm going to share them anyway and hope that Mike can somehow convince John it's o.k. for me to post pictures of him. Want to see how many times your mug shows up on this here blog in the past two years?

John 80
Me 42
Sharon 5
Tammy 1
Matt 10
Bart 4
Joe 8
Abbey 4
Mike 1
Gabe 4
Robyn 2
Julie (my niece) 13
Emily 9
Eric 5
Jill 1
Brian 2
Becky 4
Valerie 3
Geri 3
Ross 3
Steve 2
Cori 2
Tom 10
Hannah 11
Sherman 7
T.J. 1
Tabasco 7
Chester 9
Tony Danza 11
Java 11
Sara 17
Chuck 8
Sally 1
Louis 8
Amanda 5
Christy 5
Jerry 3
Dad 6
Lesa 3
Ruthie H. 1
David 2
Helen M. 1
Mom 2
Julie (Sara's sis) 5
Char 9
Natalie 3
Garrett 1
Helen A. 1
Phil 1
Tony 4
Heather 3
Gabriel 2
Seth 1
Will 1

Plus there were many pictures taken of inadminate objects:
Landscape 40
Beer 19
Cardinals 7
Food 19
Marching Band 4
Celebrities 5 (Francis Slay, Rachael Ray, Natalie Portman, They Might Be Giants, George W.)

This list does not include groups of photos that I put on Flickr or Kodak Ophoto. It also does not include videos.

I have made 649 posts which equals 0.9 posts per day.
You have made 1009 comments which equals 1.6 comments per post, and 1.4 comments per day.



Last Year
Two Years Ago

faster than a speeding bullet

Here you go, Mike.

Splitting Hairs

One of my smaller resolutions is to eat 5 fruits and/or vegetables every day. It's harder than it sounds. So, I am wondering...do you think apple butter on my english muffin in the morning counts? Do you think the tomato sauce on pizza counts? Do you think the squeezed lemon in my water or tea counts?

Sorry I made your hair look grey in the other picture. I was playing around with Photoshop, and we all know how bad I am at playing around with those type of programs. This is the original picture, minus you and Sonia's red eye. Does this look better? I personally think you look very sexy. That look in your eyes, makes me feel like you are looking at my soul. Let's get it ON!

Treats from Germany!

I baked "Amanda's Best Chocolate Cake" for the birthday boy.

Easy Silence

"And I come to find a refuge in the
Easy silence that you make for me
It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me
And the peaceful quiet you create for me
And the way you keep the world at bay for me
The way you keep the world at bay"- Dixie Chicks

I love you, happy birthday.

Happy 33rd Baby!

A New Year

In looking at last year's goals which were a big joke, I actually accomplished a few of them. Maybe the point is not to make yourself better, but instead to make reasonable goals that you can actually achieve. I accomplished #1 and #2, which is kind of sad given that the goals were supposed to be funny. Christy thought they were serious, and maybe she knows me better than I know myself.

This year I have two goals, and they kind of cancel each other out, so it should be an interesting year. It is not within the realm of possibility that I could achive both, but not likely.

Goal #1 To lose weight.
Goal #2 To get pregnant.

Those of you who know me are not surprised about goal #2 (or goal #1 for that matter, God, Elaine, you cow.) I know in the wee beginnings of this blog I was confused on this issue, but John and I have made up our minds that we hope a baby is in our future. Could be easier said than done, but I let you in on my little secret, it's in writing now, I have shared this with you. This is not a new hope for John and I, just one that I hope can come true in 2007.

We had a good time hanging out with friends last night. I like casual, low key evenings at home with friends. Sara, Chuck, Julie and Char spent the night, and our house was so quiet and boring when they left. =( John started a beer today, the first one since the pumpkin beer on tap at the Halloween Party. He got a 55 pound bag of barley for Christmas, so this was his first all grain homebrew. It took longer, and was more work, but it is cheaper, and should be better quality. He is making a brown ale, similar to Newcastle. We'll let you know in a month how it turns out.

I hope the best for 2007 for all of you! Don't forget to eat your pickled herring today!

John had Julie's help this morning making the beer.

some of the girls

the boys

Somebody had fun last night!