additive

so we took our friend rachel to a mexican restaurant for her 30th birthday and ordered her a strawberry daquiri, menos tequila (her usual frothy soda wouldn't do!). anyhow, menos was supposed to mean "minus/without"...but instead the sauce came on the side. so here's a birthday picture of the night, with some "spring break/party yeah!" posing added in for good measure. i think she dipped her pinky in the shot and rubbed it on a wound or something.

i tell you this as an introduction to our first out-of-state addition to the collaborative. rachel, i hope you join us locos. you say a lot of funny stuff.

so long, Holden

Salinger died today. Not sure how I feel about him, so here's your whocaresian epitaph, J.D. -

"What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse." The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1

hard times, come again no more

i think we all know far too well that the crowd behind the individual is like the lattice work for the blossoming clematis. that no one single person gets to where they are by their own lonesome. how to pay a late tribute to a favorite artist often left in the background?

i don't think i'd love the great white wonder (emmylou harris) as much if it weren't for hearing the mcgarrigle sisters performing on harris' 1995 "wrecking ball" album. harmonies, my friends, are something-of-a-trap that is meant to entice the listening ear. wow! the mcgarrigle sisters knew their stuff. their collaboration with emmylou harris was astounding...and continued til present day with stunning LIVE performances with harris (one that i was privileged to witness at the st. louis arch in 2006. it was the first concert that annabelle and i attended together with equivalent gusto. we were both absolutely stubborn about good seating and enjoyed most of the first set about fifteen feet from the stage. only then did my shoulders give weigh and i could no longer manage the weight of an almost 4-yr.-old. on my shoulder. see pictures here.)

to kate, mother of rufus & martha wainright, singer extraordinaire.

Breaking in our new home with a WC Breakfast

Anyone up for a V-blog breakfast at my place this Wednesday morning? Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Please comment -- I could do it next week if that's better for others. I can email our new address to those who need it.

well-versed

i went to a birthday party last week & when i got home there was a note on my bed stand from our oldest:

love potion number nine?

so tonight, my friend teej and i were on the stair case outside my apartment, smoking some of the last cloves known to mankind, and my neighbor man came out of his apartment across the way, and he was carrying a little trash can with him. he said hi to us and he proceeded to dump a little pile of hair--his own hair, the rest of which was teased into standing up straight--on the wooden deck area between my apartment and his. but it was way more on my half of the deck than not. and then. he lit the hair on fire. and once it was pretty burned up, he used the bottom of the trash can to put it out. we chatted a little and he said he was burning his hair, but it felt rude to ask why. so we didn't. he wished us a good night. and then went back inside. after he left, we contemplated why a person would burn his hair outside, on his neighbor's porch, rather than, say, throw it away in the trash. all we could come up with...was that it was some kind of love spell. other, more plausible theories?

delice rides again!

Guess what's coming (back) to Midtown Crossing this summer? That's right, friends! And they say they're keeping all the original recipes. Hoo-rah.

(Click the title for the news article)

For Ali ... with love

The Virtues of Raw Beets ... need I say more?

Dream a Summer Dream for Me...

Well Ladies, it is that time again. Time to start discussing our summer Whocarsian annual retreat. Here is what I have come up with so far. Right now I am thinking the weekend of July 8th-July 11th

Idea A: Back to Mark & Bob. We can stay at the Inn, kayak in the area, shop the shops, sip the coffee, frequent the Indian Cuisine, only drive 4 hours a piece, stay as long as we choose. Ahhh.

Idea B: Inspired by Daphne and this list, I have been scoping out the Minneapolis Area. I found a home that can accommodate up to 14 of us (all of us if by some miracle we all make it at the same time) but it would be a 3 night committment. Based on 10 of us, it would cost us each about $250.00 for those 3 nights. We could plan a day trip into the city, we could lounge on the beach, we could dance in the sand to banjo's by moonlight, we could sing till our lungs burst... wherever the wind blows us.

Idea C: Condo in Chicago? Wisconsin Cheese Tour and a cabin? Enter your thoughts... but first

CAST YOUR VOTE HERE

calling all baby food jars!

I am glad that so many of you can make it to the Del Marie Creamery yogurt tasting next week! If you haven't signed up yet and want to there's one opening left!

We're looking for used baby jars for the tasting. Do you have any that ambf and I could have slash borrow? We're trying to find reusable little taster containers and thought baby food jars would be perf. We need something like 60.

Send word if you have 'em. Or if you know of anyone else who may have extras lying around.

This morning

Ada: "Ouch! Ouch! Mommy, don't hug me! I have a My Little Pony in my panties."

Send off

Throwin' a little pot-luck style meal to bid Ali farewell as she departs again to her southern home. Please come to my place on Friday anytime after 6:30. We'll eat around 7. I'll be making Chicken Marbella. Bring something to share. Please RSVP. Thanks!!

abominable snow gorilla

i came downstairs this morning to find andrew at the window, looking bemused. this is what he saw on our neighbor's porch at 7:30 in the morning. upon closer inspection, we determined that it was made of cardboard. which is good, because it was too cold to be a person out there, just hanging around waiting to be noticed.

i haven't met the neighbor's next door yet (they moved in a few weeks ago) but i like them already.