Sorry The Rooster's Not Red

Merry Christmas my friends!  We're having Christmas here this year....it is long overdue.....it will be the first since we have been married.  Christmas Eve will be at our house with Albert's family & Tifenn & Max.  Oysters will also be on our menu...it isn't Christmas without Oyster pies.  Too bad I can't get a hold of one of those Moreton Bay Bugs!  Christmas day will be spent at Maria & Nick's in the east village...the same apartment building that we lived in until we had Grace.  The day after Christmas we will head to Va to celebrate with my family & check on my grandma. The kids are still into Santa & mailed him letters addressed to his house in the North Pole.  I insisted that no postage nor return address was neccessary.  

Kristen, Sally & I went out for drinks & dinner the other night.  Roh, you'll be very proud of me I had 3 half pints.  I believe, I'm  going to have to change my name!

The city is having another one bite the dust.  Djonibas dance & drum center is closing.....they are hit by fewer students attending classes because of the economy  and a major rent increase.  I am sick over it!  Lily, you won't be able to see Djoniba strut his stuff in his baggy diaper pants ever again!  Seriously,  over the past 10 years we have lost 2 really great African dance schools and tons of cancelled programs & classes.  This is really, really sad.

http://infinitebody.blogspot.com/2008/12/djoniba-centre-to-close.html

On a lighter note......I hope you all have the very best holiday and I wish so much that we could have a toast together!

Roh, what is your email address? I have sent you several things and they keep coming back. The kids were thrilled to receive a card all the way from Australia!

  

Merry Christmas Chicks

Here are the children in summer clothes and Christmas gear - just to prove it really is warm here at Christmas. It certainly makes most Christmas carols sound more ridiculous than usual ("Walking in a winter wonderland" - what?). We are heading down to my parents' house today and there will be ten around the Christmas lunch table supping on oysters, lobsters, Moreton Bay bugs and any other seafood delicacy my mother can find in the local fishmongers. Australia virtually shuts down for a couple of weeks at Christmas and New Year and most of January is pretty sleepy with the children on their summer holidays and most families hunting for a spot on the beach. On Boxing Day (December 26), I will be going to the Test Match at the MCG with Dad, Dean, my brother-in-law Duncan, and 90,000 other people. Most of the day will be spent in the Long Room where we are required to dress up in suits and ties despite the hot weather, but where we can drink good beer out of glasses not made of plastic, and have the best view of the game. By the end of a long day (a day at the cricket is from 11am to 6pm), we will have watched the world's best sporting contest, have resolved most of the world's problems, and I will probably have attempted to climb over a fence or two.

So everyone have a very merry Christmas and we will drink you all a toast on Christmas Day.

Merry Merry Martini's and Manhattan's

Ok - so it is cold as ass here - I am still trying to ride a bike -- I know I am crazy - I will have to send you some pictures of me in my full bike gear - it got so cold the other day that my chain would not even move -- can you believe it??

So I had a kick ass party on Friday! I invited a few people from work, a few I have met in other locations and a couple I have known. It all accumulated in about 17 people gathered in my home for "Martini's and NYC Manahattan's". It was quite successful! I had a lovely time and my home looked quite lovely and ended pretty dirty. I realized I still have not shown you pictures of my place -- here ya go -- a little out of order but hey:














Lets see what else...I think I told you all about my promotion right? Well, I am now Education Manager - but I only got a little over half of what i asked for finacially - they pretty much have me by my balls with this financial market though. People are really being affected here that is for sure - friends are losing jobs all around me...it is a little scary...how are all of you and the people around you? I am starting to loose perspective -- the middle class in the midwest always seem to be affected first when it comes to finacial slumps -- and -- this one -- is not pretty. I just cross my fingers I don't loose my job -- it is already a bit freaky that my Dads building business had cut in half.

Let see maybe something a bit more cheery...my girlfriend Sarah just had her baby -- a boy! I haven't seen pictures yet but I can't wait. It is the end of an era - she was the only friend in my life who was childless -- now it is just me. I guess I am keeping the statistics even...but it still is a little weird. Now she will disappear like everyone else and there will be no one to talk to -- ok, now I am feeling sorry for myself -- sorry -- I will just have to either wait for all the babies to grow up...or have one of my own.

Ok - that was not a cheer up -- sorry...

I miss all of you -- where are you? What are your holidays amassing to? please send pictures soon -- oh yeah, and I have completely failed in the "skype talk planning" I promise I will be on it in the new year...2009...shit...where have the years gone. I will be 39 this year ...that is f$#%ing crazy!!

Beatles concert

Here are the children in their end-of-year school concert:

something to make you smile...

Ok -- because I don't have the likes of my wonderful Rooster and his chicks to run with I have lowered myself to dressing as Santa and running with a bunch of other ding dongs through the streets of Minneapolis...what do I say...I miss you all...we looked better in red...but I have to say that beard really accentuates my cheekbones...I do make one sexy ass Santa!


But I finished all the same and raised some money for a good charity -- would have been more fun with all of you.


Besides running like a ninny with a white beard I was recently on the decorating committee of my Guthrie Staff Christmas party and I have to say my ideas worked out pretty good. It was an "enlarged theme" with X-Large cut out snowflakes (which gave me a blister on my finger after 3 hours of cutting) and my fireplace DVD projected on the wall of the studio looked pretty cool--that is one hell of a yule log!



But regardless of the fun I have to say I would love some sun. The snow, sleet, slush make it hard to bike...but as many are saying I am "hard core"...little do they know it is necessity. The lonely subsides when in the comfort of my apartment but it is hard to meet people -- thought I keep pushing through. The job is really quite fantastic, all that I have been looking for...so I can say balance will come in time. I think overall, I am pretty happy. I started my "professional coaching" and it has been enlighting. This has been a good move...might not be the location for life...but it was the right move.

Six months

Six months in Australia and what have I discovered? I really enjoy seeing my parents' joy at being around my children, I like going to my club at the MCG to watch footy and cricket, all this sunshine is pretty good, I like having a beer with my brother once in a while, Australian newspapers and television are 97.5% crap, books are incredibly expensive, until about 1960 the history of this country was based on a racist ideology that would not have been out of place in 1960's Mississippi or South Africa (I already knew that, but now I understand it in a lot more detail), Melbourne has the best coffee in the world, people here live in their backyards and therefore neighborhood communities do not exist, it's eerily quiet during the day in my street, I could not be a stay-at-home Dad for too long here and I'm looking forward to starting my Master of Teaching course at Melbourne University in February (if I get accepted), Australian radio is 100% crap, I am lactose-intolerant, it's very dry and we need a lot of rain, parents don't hang around in playgrounds after school, I am still resisting the Australian habit of shortening everybody's name and putting and "ee" on the end (I have two friends who I had not seen in 20 years. Their names are Annette and Janine - they now get called Nettie and Neenie. Sheesh), I have a barbecue - what is the big deal?, Peter Carey should win a Nobel Prize, I've had about as much as I can take of Nicole Kidman and "Australia", Kevin Rudd is a very boring man.

The Turkey Blues

Hello my friends!

We went to Va for Thanksgiving because my other grandmother is not doing very well now. Remember I lost my Grandmother Hudgins at 98 this past February. Grandmother Hammond is now 94 and as she so plainly put it during our most recent visit...."Old age is catch'in me!"

Grandmother had a very bad case of shingles a couple months ago from which she is still having residual pain and eyesight loss. Her short term memory has also gotten so bad that she can no longer follow her books on tape which were her only remaining form of amusement. Her quality of life consist of sitting in her chair or the bed all day with her eyes closed. She seems to enjoy a little conversation and sometimes wants to be read the paper. She has little desire for food, is skin and bones, although, I found that I could feed her quite well because she would forget what she had eaten....so she got two of every meal when I was around. My Dad has hire help to stay with her a majority of the time. She is so proud that it is humiliating for her to have my family helping her. She cried when my step mom had to take her to the bathroom. My Dad has never been able to sit around for too long, he is constantly moving from project to project, inside to out. Well, he sat with my Grandmother the day that we arrived from 8:00am until 3:30pm and he said that it was the longest he had ever been inside in his entire life!

Grandmother has had many lives...a painter, sculptor, teacher, crafter, first female treasurer of Mathews County, Va., and solo world traveler, just to name a few. She lives on a small creek called "Put-in Creek" where I collected so many fond childhood memories of being on the water. When my Grandfather died about 15 years ago, my Dad built a weekend house next to my Grandmother which we stay in when we visit. We were married on her dock. Our life in Va. so deeply entwined with hers will make the waiting, untangling, separation & loss very, very difficult. I don't know what to wish for.

Gobble Gobble

Hey,hey, hey --

Happy Thanksgiving Day my dear friends. I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends. I will be thinking of all of you. I am certainly thankful for our friendship. Please say "HI" to the entire family. Oh, and take a peek at this for a little laugh...it seriously made me pee my pants:

http://www.youtube.com/v/5nYoahyaPuA&hl=en&fs=1

OH, also...Kathy I will be in touch about setting up a skype call. Roh, what a blast chating! Kristen WHERE ARE YOU???

LLove

Happy Turkey Day

Happy thanksgiving everybody. Even though we are on the other side of the Pacific we will be having some friends around for roast turkey and all the trimmings on Sunday. I will post photos when they are available.

Kathy, I expect to see photos from your fabulous Turkey Trot around Prospect Park. Kristen, are you running yet? Get with it woman!

Lily and I have communicated in a very special way (!!!) and a 3 or 4-way Skype conversation will be happening very soon. Stay tuned.

When giving thanks, give special thanks that there are only 55 days of the Bush presidency to go.

Gouls & Gals

Lily, you rock...the New York Marathon and a promotion in a depressed economy, wow! Yes, 2008 is certainly your year! It was so much fun having the chicks back together again, but I must admit we were a little bereft without our Rooster! Roh, (as Lily said) we talked about you a lot and we even tried to catch you on Skype one evening. Where were you... the cafe or the pub?

Here are some photos from Halloween. The cast from Harry Potter was spotted in our neighborhood!

Hurrah!

Outstanding performance Lily. Fantastic news. Well done indeed. I think we will call 2008 the Year of Obama and Lily Love Shaw.

Promotion

I did it! I have been given a promotion at the Guthrie - in only 7 months - not bad huh?! As of December first my title will be Education Manager and my direct report will be my boss Louise who has been made Director of Education. I am NO longer a F---ing Assistant!!!! Oh my god -I am VERY pleased. OH - AND I will get a raise! Pretty crazy, especially in this economic market. It is not even so much that my duties are going to change I have pretty much been managing since I started, but I am now actually getting the permission to fully do it. There will be more work - but I am up for it. Things are so much better in the department since the nasty woman left and since they decided to move the 77 year old director to another area of the Theater - an area where she will actually have more of an opportunity to do what she loves (you should have that opportunity by the time your 77 - don't you think?!). So all is well!

I have to say I have been looking over my shoulder when I write since reading Roh's last blog entry...hmm...I certainly miss all of you!

I get to see my little niece this weekend! yeah! I will have a ton of pictures to post I am sure.

We are performers

This is weird. I plugged our blog into Typealyzer and it said that we are Meyer-Briggs ESFP - The Performers. Collectively Red Rooster and His Chicks are:

"The entertaining and friendly type. Especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don't like to plan ahead - they are always at risk of exhausting themselves. They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions."

The drawing that accompanies the ESFP type shows an attractive young woman at a bar with a cocktail in her hand. Spooky. It's like they have been following us around.

Yeah Friends!!

WHEW!!

What a week! I could not have been with better people... in a better place then NYC last week. It was buzzing with Halloween parades, a HUGE Marathon and one of the most historical Elections ever. It was fantastic!

It was so wonderful to see you Kathy and Kristen! I already miss you a ton. Roh we talked about you often - wishing you were there with us - wondering what you are up to - and deciding we need to do a skype conversation...how would that work?

I had a good time seeing other friends to - all gatherings were brief but fulfilling. I swear I leave and people have babies, move, get pregnant, fall in love - man o man - change is good.

I have decided that the best thing to do before any vacation (at least for me) is an extreme sport...maybe I am a masochist...but I have to say I felt fully deserving of the rest of my vacation after running 26.2 miles. So Roh start training because in 2010 we need to run an Australian marathon...do they do those there? is there a beer every mile:)?!

Below are a few marathon photo highlights ...I have to say it was an absolutely amazing experience - I think I had a smile on my face the entire time...I really honestly am surprised I was able to do it. I believe I now have a new found confidence in myself - it really hit something in me! I will say...I am proud. Oh I will say in addition to the photo's below Brightroom got a few goodies during the race...http://www.brightroom.com/estf.asp?EVENTID=34924&PWD=&BIB=47516 (you might have to cut and past it into your browser to get to them).

Here are more:

coming into 8 mile pit stop #1


yeah, friends!!!


A quick change -- gotta get rid of a couple items to avoid "chaffing"


Off we go Kathy in tow!


Pit stop #2 -- 22 mile mark


I think this is the moment I realized that this marathon was changing something in me...


Whew!!! 26.2 miles


The end!!! where else can you have a better Manhattan then...in Brooklyn!!!!



I will post more pictures of the chicks and I later...just wanted to get this post up before you thought I had forgotten!!!

miss you all!!!

Now what?

I think this blog could be up for some kind of award. We have gone from Sarah Palin's vagina to a beautiful poem by Maya Angelou in just two posts. Amazing.

The election is over and I don't know what I am going to do with the rest of my life. For months I have been watching polls, looking at electoral maps, fretting when Obama's lead dropped below 5%, out of my mind with joy when it went above 7%, reading blogs and pundits and now...nothing. Sure, Rahm Emanuel is a fun guy, but it's just not the same thing. I watched the election on four different channels and a dozen websites, and I was still worried until the last minute that somehow California was going to go Republican. Maybe I'm just going to have to watch the West Wing yet again.

On the Pulse of Morning

Received this today from MUG....had to share it!

On the Pulse of Morning
by Maya Angelou

A Rock, A River, A Tree
Hosts to species long since departed,
Marked the mastodon.

The dinosaur, who left dry tokens
Of their sojourn here
On our planet floor,
Any broad alarm of their hastening doom
Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages.

But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.

I will give you no more hiding place down here.

You, created only a little lower than
The angels, have crouched too long in
The bruising darkness,
Have lain too long
Face down in ignorance.

Your mouths spilling words
Armed for slaughter.

The Rock cries out today, you may stand on me,
But do not hide your face.

Across the wall of the world,
A River sings a beautiful song,
Come rest here by my side.

Each of you a bordered country,
Delicate and strangely made proud,
Yet thrusting perpetually under siege.

Your armed struggles for profit
Have left collars of waste upon
My shore, currents of debris upon my breast.

Yet, today I call you to my riverside,
If you will study war no more. Come,

Clad in peace and I will sing the songs
The Creator gave to me when I and the
Tree and the stone were one.

Before cynicism was a bloody sear across your
Brow and when you yet knew you still
Knew nothing.

The River sings and sings on.

There is a true yearning to respond to
The singing River and the wise Rock.

So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the Jew
The African and Native American, the Sioux,
The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the Greek
The Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheikh,
The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,
The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.
They hear. They all hear
The speaking of the Tree.

Today, the first and last of every Tree
Speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the River.

Plant yourself beside me, here beside the River.

Each of you, descendant of some passed
On traveller, has been paid for.

You, who gave me my first name, you
Pawnee, Apache and Seneca, you
Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then
Forced on bloody feet, left me to the employment of
Other seekers—desperate for gain,
Starving for gold.

You, the Turk, the Swede, the German, the Scot …
You the Ashanti, the Yoruba, the Kru, bought
Sold, stolen, arriving on a nightmare
Praying for a dream.

Here, root yourselves beside me.

I am the Tree planted by the River,
Which will not be moved.

I, the Rock, I the River, I the Tree
I am yours—your Passages have been paid.

Lift up your faces, you have a piercing need
For this bright morning dawning for you.

History, despite its wrenching pain,
Cannot be unlived, and if faced
With courage, need not be lived again.

Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.

Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands.

Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts
Each new hour holds new chances
For new beginnings.

Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.

No less to Midas than the mendicant.

No less to you now than the mastodon then.

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

Oh, what a night!

I am exhausted & giddy with relief.

This morning, for the first time in eight years, I woke up feeling proud to be an American.
I am bursting with hope for change.
Change that will narrow the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Change that will allow all of us to discard prejudices and move towards a more unified country.
Change that will allow us to proudly join the rest of the world in solving our global issues.

WHEW! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! We did it!

As my kids would say, "OBAMA ROCKS"!

HI
Some more piks of the kids!!


Yes, I agree, I cant wait for this all to be over, (election)
can we look forward to the future now???


I heard a terrible joke;

what is the difference between palins mouth and her vagina?

not everything that comes out of her vagina is all bad.......

ok. That was a guy joke, but I heard it from a woman.......


kathy have you seen the side of the new condo being built
in williamsburg that faces manhatten? There is a banner the
size of 6 stories and it reads:

SARAH PALIN

LIVE HERE

YOU CAN SEE WALL STREET

Im not kidding, they actually put that up on the side of their bldg!!


miss y ou all,
Kristen

Can't wait to get off of this Election Rollercoaster

We are counting down the days to the election......this last month has seemed like three. I am still so afraid of what the republicans might pull out of their hat at the last minute. I'm sure Carl Rove has something planned....but, at the moment it is looking real good! Recent endorsements include: New York Times(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin), Colin Powell, William F Buckley's Son & Scott McClellan.

Autumn is here...beautiful clear breezy days requiring bountiful bundling and an endless side-stepping of ginkos. Well into our school routine, Grace has been busting at the seams for the past few weeks...so proud to be reading and writing. Louis, the usual good students, has developed some test anxiety which displeases him greatly.

Rohan so sorry to hear about Rachel's Dad please tell her that our thoughts & prayers are with her and her family. Ro, how are you really? Do you miss NY? Are you spending a lot of time with your family? Have you made friends with other parents at school?

Lily, I can't wait to see you in NY. Kristen and I have already discussed booking you for a lunch, a dinner as well as numerous coffees. On Halloween the kids want to check out the "trick or treating" in our neighborhood and hang with firends at our place, so just drop by if your in the hood!

Kristen named her baby, Chloe Lea Santos Gomes! Chloe looks exactly like Kristen....she is very, very pretty.

Hey everyone, take a look at this.....it is pretty scary. http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/portable/video/x5odhh_pop-corn-telephone-portable-microon_news

Men and where they are.

If McCain wins the rest of the world will be closing all their borders, so you'd better get out fast.

Now here is a map that shows where all the single men are across the United States. It's interactive and adjustable - you move the slider along the top and you can work out where all the single men of a certain age are. It shows that in Minneapolis, for age group 30-44, there are 23 extra single men per 1,000 of the population. Good news! And much better than New York where there are only 3 extra men per 1,000.

1/2 pint where are you?

Count Down to Nov.4

I just had to share that even my little niece, as young as she is, has better politics then some of the adults I have run into!

My vote is in - I had to fill out an absentee ballot due to the fact that I will be in NYC on November 4th. Everyone keep your fingers crossed AND Rohan you better get your extra bedroom ready because, I swear, if McCain wins I am outta here!





P.S. Isn't she the cutest!!

Beautiful girl

Congratulations, she looks wonderful. Hope all your boys are happy too. Why don't you name her after one of your running buddies - Liliana or Catarina would be the Portuguese forms.

hi!!

its true, having a baby is hands free.......for about 2 minutes so this will be quick!
yes, I went into labor early, due to low amniotic fluid, had to be induced, by the time the pitocin kicked in
I went from 3.5 ct dialated, to pushing her out in.........20 minutes. uhhhh, a little painful.

shes doign great, at 3.5 wks early, she still weighed 6.3 pounds at birth, 18.5 inches
shes a fabulous eater, thats all she does and her name is........baby girl!
any ideas on names? send them through!


miss all of you terribly, and I cant wait to see you lily when you come!

I will continuously send pdated piks!

boys doing great, no real huge breakdowns yet...
lorenzo is doing surprisingly great!

love to all,
Kristen

No excuse

Just because she is in hospital having a baby is no excuse for not updating us on the blog. Hasn't she heard of laptops? Sheeesh. Having a baby is pretty much hands-free - I'm sure she could have managed it. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the birth on YouTube.

Congratulations and lots of love Kristen. Thinking of you.

totally weird

Ok --I am probably going to get in trouble from blurting out the news but I think we are all kinda like family...KRISTEN HAD THE BABY!!!!! ok get this...so on Sunday I just starting thinking of her for no apparent reason and I was like...."hmm, when is she due...I wonder..hmmm". Then Monday I wrote that blog entry and I was just joking when I asked if she had had the baby already. THEN today I got the urgency to call her and so I did. I left a message and asked her when she was due because I was thinking of her...and...5 minutes later she called back...SHE HAD THE BABY YESTERDAY!!!! can you believe it?? Anyway I will say no more besides - mom and little girl are all good, she is beautiful (of course she is!!) and no name is picked yet...sorry Kristen I had to tell them!!! will follow up more later...miss you all!

Spring is in the air

My birthday is Valentine's Day - everyone celebrates it and gets a shag too!

Kristen - a couple of weeks ago you said you were going to post something soon. Where is it??? Being eight and a half months pregnant is no excuse. Unless you're not feeling well or you can't get close enough to the keyboard because your belly is so large in which case it's a pretty good excuse, I suppose. But even if it is an excuse, tell us what is going on. Now. On the blog.

Sorry to hear about your man, Lily, but I guess it's better to know that he's a plonker now rather than a couple of years down the track. Get back out there immediately - someone as gorgeous as you will find someone straight away. It's your time - I can feel it in my water.

I've started running pretty regularly. I now have a route which is about three miles long. It's pretty hilly and I'm taking it rather slowly, but I intend building back to a sub two hour half-marathon speed. Lily, good luck in the marathon. Take it easy and don't blow your load crossing that first bridge. And try and get onto the top deck of the Verrezano. If you run too close to the edge of the bottom deck, you might get hit by runners pissing from the top deck.

We've had some bad news - Rachel's father died last week and she is back in the UK for a couple of weeks for the funeral. She was feeling a long way away while he was fading, but it's good that she can be back there now with her mother.

You're all meeting up? Damn. Please print out a photo of me and take it with you. Put it on the bar when you have your first drink. Then put your drink on the photo. That way I can say that you are having a drink on me!! Please take a group shot and post on this blog.

The weather is getting warmer and warmer. I can almost smell summer. Hannah has a school sleepover this Friday and is almost beside herself with excitement.

Driving Independence

Hello all!

I had such a great weekend this last weekend! My big boss - the one who is the boss of my boss) gave me her car to use for a week and a half - a red Prius (I look so cute in it)! It is totally awesome! I drove all over - saw friends I haven't see and got a larger view of Minneapolis then my five mile bike radius! I feel so grown up having access to a car...might have to get one...this is definitely a car city and there are tons of places I can't get to without one...hmmm...we shall see.

Sarah Holden (my friend from NYC) was here for a wedding so we got to hang out - she is 7 months pregnant and looks so cute - just a big belly. Speaking of big belly's -- Kristen when are you due? It has to be pretty soon!

Well, I have not heard from either of you ladies -- I am going to be in NYC in 21 days and I insist on seeing the both of you as much as I can! Roh -- so sorry you will not be there...

Umm...what else...oh, yeah, I had to get rid of Andy. It is a long story, but I am better off. Wound up he had two warrants out for his arrest...for harassment...yep, that explains some stuff. Weird information started coming out, strange behavior, stuff I just don' t have to put with. So, single again. Oh, well.

I now can sing two Broadway tunes in front of people with out peeing my pants in fear. And I almost can play "California Stars" by Wilco on my guitar (not really recognizable at this point but getting there). I am trying to get good enough to play it for my Dad's upcoming Bday.

Speaking of Bday's will you all send me when yours are so that I can put it in my calendar - thanks...

Lets see what else...OH the marathon...yeah, well...I am still going to start it and try to finish it --- not with any particular time or expectation...but I figure I paid enough to do it...and it will be exciting none the less...and it will only give me a base to improve from.

I am finally healthy...I was in urgent care two Sunday's ago because I just didn't feel ...right...anyway I got a great doctor and he check out EVERYTHING and basically I had just worn myself down and had a virus that just didn't want to go away...so I took a ton of vitamins, rest and... got rid of Andy and I feel much better! He might have been the virus...no, that is mean...but he was hard to get rid of.

FAll is here and it is BEAUTIFUL - I can't believe how many different colors the trees are and the sky is. I will say the sky surprises me daily. It is so pretty here ...maybe it was in NYC too but I could just never see it past all the buildings.

I will try to get some pictures up soon. Miss all of you. Hope all is going well. Give the families my love.

It's been a long, long time...la la la

Hey there my lovely roster and chicks. Trust me I have not fallen off the face of the earth but I am so damn busy. So I thought a quick photo montage would be a quick and lovely way to catch up...but first a few facts:

- I will be in NY Oct. 31 - Nov. 7th - so mark your calendars ladies because we are hanging out!!
- Yes, I am going to try to run / walk the marathon - yes, I am crazy, no I am not ready nor in shape - but hell, why not - I can stop if I have to.
- Yes, I am still dating a man but ...I don't know...we shall see
- the woman I hate at work...quit...yeah!!!! It has made it so much better -- but so much more busy!
- I am taking my first singing class at the Guthrie and I sang my first show tune in front of the class last week - scared the crap out of me but I did it!!! Now I can't stop singing!
- I am teaching myself to play guitar!
- I am taking yoga every Thurs. night
- I miss you all terribly!

Here is me helping my dad on the boat...it was in dire need of repair...but for being on the water for 21 years with very little it doesn't look that bad. We will be able to have it back on the water next summer -- Yeah!!!


Lucy is doing very well and loves the apartment ( will get pics of the apartment up to0 - maybe do a video tour like the kids did)


This is the guy I have been dating, Andy.


He climbs mountains, boulders and walks on lines...see the cool picture I took...


I rode an elephant at the Renaissance Festival -- it was a blast!! I also bought a belly dancing scarf and a tail...yep, a tail.


I was reaffirmed at the Renaissance Festival to my great relief that I am saved...


Here is my beautiful 15 month old niece with the totally cute doll I made her (yep, I sewed in on my new sewing machine!)


Here is an even cutier picture of her...


Wasn't quite into the pic with auntie Lil...but still looks cute. Yep, I kinda look like porker...but I think it is just the picture...maybe all the wine...


Ok - that is all for now my beautiful friends!! Love you, miss you, say HI to the family for me!!!