Sealing the Deal

Notice how no bride and groom ever hesitate when the pastor says, 'You may now kiss the bride'? And that's as should be!!

BazBiz Cleveland

This weekend was Bazaar Bizarre Cleveland, a craft fair for the quirky and artistically minded. We went, and it was ourfirst time. Verdict? AWESOME.

First, most of what we saw was top notch craftsmanship. The less high quality stuff would have been the highest quality at a church craft fair, so it wasn't bad at all!!

Another great thing about BazBiz was the sheer quantity of friends we saw. It was a startling number. Some I'd expected to see. Some were delightful surprizes. We also made some new friends. Quite a memorable day!

Oh-did I mention we actually got some Christmas shopping done?

Bazaar Bizaare

My beautiful friend Xan shows off her mad skilz on the the stilts.

It was wicked crowded, and she was not only sure-footed amidst the crowd, she held a baby AND leant over to exchange kisses with me. She is so awesome!

Everyone needs a Xan in their life, if not the original!

 

Life-sized, no less.

Wow. Giant portait of all the living founders of the hospital. Including several we know and one to whom we are... Shall we say, very close geneologically. It's a really big photo.

 

Waiting. Room. View. (Sigh.)

So. Hospital waiting rooms. They are not outrageously cushy. This one has no windows. BUT! We are surrounded by family and friends. That alone makes this room instantly warm.

We are watching The Day the Earth Stood Still while we wait for the doc to bring us word about Sandy's surgery. She's done, just needing to be closed. Of course we are right on the edges of our seats!!

 

At the Colectivo Holiday Party

My cookies were disappearing! :-)

 

Colectivo Holiday Party!

Celebrating the season with fellow altruists.

 

AntiCraft Meeting: finally done. But I'm still laughing...

Best quote of the night was courtesy Anthony:

"ew. nose mango is the worst."

Awesome.

 

Yowza.

Slivovitz. Yikes.

This was opened after dinner at a friend's home. The dinner was a "Thanksgiving Leftovers Dinner" theme, and we were encouraged to bring whatever was left over from the previous day's meal, including any nearly-empty bottles of [name any beverage] that were really just taking up space. This bottle of Slivovitz was clearly NOT nearly empty, but Paul and Carolyn assured us all that it was most certainly just taking up space.

Slivovitz is a traditional Slovenian liquor. It's important to have it at every special occasion. This is what Paul shared with us on this occasion. Rick had a good story to share, too.

The bottle label says that the contents are 8 years old. I'm sure they were, way back when they were bottled... The problem that compounded the problem of the flavor (ugh... flavor??? Not in this bottle, all you taste is chemical...) was that this bottle was purchased on the occasion of Paul's brother's wedding, something on the order of over 20 years ago. Maybe he said something closer to 30 years ago. I don't remember. I was distracted by the bottle... It's pretty!

The bottle is molded with the name, "Beograd, Yugoslavia." That's not something we're likely to see again. It was worth the distraction.

Some of the guests had a full shot. I was curious, but didn't really want a full shot, so I waited til one of the shot glasses was empty. I asked for the bottom of the shotglass to be "wetted" and drank that: not even a thimble-full.

The verdict? Blech.

I'll ask for it the next time I need to clean oil paint off of brushes.

Which might be never.

 

I got a package in the mail!

Actually, it came yesterday, but I wanted to wait til today to open it. Today's my icky wedding anniversary.

Not my good one. That's in July. My icky one was my first one, a sort of tragic dress rehearsal for my current wedded bliss.

The package has 4 lovely children's books. Really nice ones!

What a nice box of warm to enjoy on a day that has such lousy memories for me.

Thanks, Melankalia/Pamela!! :-D And I LOVE what you did with the box.

 

Just heard the most compelling question!

It was quite possibly the most compelling question of my entire existence:

"When is Tron 2 coming out?"

I may never sleep again.

 

Precious addition, up past her bedtime.

Beautiful Nina Bramhall. Such a sweetie!

In her daddy's arms at Patti Substelny's 40th birthday party. What a great evening.

 

OMG! HA HA HA HA INFINITY!!

Amy Amy Amy Amy Amy! Mr. Becker Mr. Becker Mr. Becker Mr. Becker!

(This is what's known as a 'drunk post'. I have only vague recollections about what the conversation was, I just know it was all pricelessly funny at the time and needed to be preserved for posterity. Whatever that's worth.)

 

Mission accomplished!

L to R: Tony's, mine, Rick's. All empty. Lunch was also delicious! So excellent to get caught up with friends, friends we see with unacceptable infrequency.

I'm telling you, everybody needs scooters.

Veggie Tales sez "everybody has a water buffalo," but that's only true in the Philippines. Here, we all need scooters. SCOOTERS. Just get one. Or TWO!!

Fer cryin' out loud, just get a scooter.

 

Grape Bomb

This is a potent glass full of YUM.

Scooters. Everybody needs a scooter. 'Nuff sed.

 

Paladin Moon

We are home, the car is unpacked, the dog (collected from my dad's) is delighted to have her realm back, the cats have emerged from all hiding places (on seeing the dog, have now returned to them), and we are finally making our way towards actual possibilities for sleep.

It was a good weekend, but very hectic.

I have pictures from today to post but they can wait until tomorrow's clearer, better-rested mind can sort them.

Arrival of my heart

Rick arrives at lunch.

OH COME ON. Is this REALLY necessary?

Why, oh WHY, would it occur to me to worry about 100% fruit juice being laden with fat?

So you might be wondering why there's suddenly a picture like this in the middle of bike-riding pictures? We were in a grocery store, augmenting our Saturday night pizza party with a veg tray and some fresh fruit.

OK. Some beer too. Carbo-loading, you know.

 

Day is done.

Today's MS150 ride was fantastic.

That could be the adrenaline talking, though.

 

Sage advice.

I always find wierd stuff in bathrooms.