tennis anyone?

today, though not even noon, has already been productive. we got up a little early. it has been warm here so i decided to wear my new pink dress. i look good.



some of you may know that today is the day that grand theft auto IV comes out. dust was pumped. he jokingly suggested that we go to one of the stores that was having a midnight sale. when i agreed, he said no. so we waited. we got to the store by 10 am. we then got him his required jamba juice. he loves that stuff. then we got a big box for the guitar hero stuff to be mailed home. it will be on it's way soon. i found a vet in putney that sells the kitties new diet food. and i am going toy shopping for two little boys today. i am excited about that. i hope they like surprises because i sure don't have an idea what to get them, but i can't wait to have a looksie. it is dustin's last day of work. i think he would stay home just to play this new game, but it is not so hard to work he says. so he is playing the game now. i think he likes it.
when i get back from the toy shopping, i will try to finish another chemistry before we pack up the computer. we may be out of commission tomorrow, and for sure while we are traveling thursday. so we will catch up with all of you soon. be pumped....for once!
(see dust "reading" in the background?) i love that guy.

make mine a turkey!

quiz number three in my chemistry class was taken and another 100% was rewarded. to celebrate my "turkey", i bought myself two new dresses from american apparel. one is hot pink and another is green. the hot pink one looks like a long polo shirt. and the green one has a boat collar and no sleeves. i like to think that in chemistry i now have 300%. i know that is false, but i feel good thinking like that.
while i was doing my celebratory shopping, i got a little thing of frozen yogurt. i had passed by a festival, but i couldn't see what kind of festival because i was on the phone with my dad. so anyway. i get the yogurt and go sit in the park. turns out the festival was for freedom of speech. i love freedom of speech. so i was looking at the people. they looked weird, but it was sunny, and there was a bouncy castle, so i must admit, i was a little preoccupied. then i noticed that this freedom of speech rally was for freedom of expression, and half the people were naked and covered in metallic paints. now it was no november evening in vermont. and i could leave this merry band of nakedness. so i ate my yogurt in the car where it was nice and HOT and everyone (me) was fully clothed. what is it about me that can find the nakedness?

i only have one more day of work on wednesday left. i'm pretty pumped about that. i wish i had it off, but there is no reason for me to have it off. all i have left is to pick up my brother on wednesday night, and get on a plane. i am living out of a suitcase right now just to be ready. dust should do the same tomorrow night. i need to find a box big enough to fit the drums for the rock band game and get that sent off. i gotta get some in flight reading, too. so don't go buying this week's trashy magazines if you haven't already. i'll have a few ready for the taking friday morning.
love to all.

and one more thing

i wanted to show you guys random pictures that haven't yet been put on the blog. i thought you guys might like to see 'em. if not, don't look.




why not let this one start 'em off? we found this big cup at a store. who needs that much beverage? you will be happy to know that it stayed at the store, and it will not be making the trip home. so no random, huge cup as an embarrassing gift for anyone. although, now that i think about it, there is still time....


did i already show you dustin's new hoodie? i did not get a matching one, you will be happy to know.
baby emma no longer cries when i hold her. maybe we will start getting along.

at our coffee shop (across the road) the owner and his friends gather and sing opera once a month. we finally caught them this month. it was nice. they had a good time. and the place was filled with old italian couples singing along. i loved it.

you remember when we had hilary here? i was just getting to taking my org. chem final so things got a little hectic and she is not so well represented on this blog. just means you will have to make the trip again--or look at the pictures when we get home.

we even had dan and rose here when my parents were here. you remember that?

we found this big concrete slide in one of our city parks. there was cardboard right next to it. that cardboard makes you slide twice as fast. it was a lot of fun this day. this is the same day i had my interview at La Foot.

i did a bad, bad thing

i have been in love with a pair of shoes since before dust and i started dating. he got them at the new balance store (using my insurance discount) in portland way before we even started dating. he then re bought the same pair of shoes last year. i forgot he had re gotten them. i thought he had the same pair for 5+ years. so i rationalized finally buying them (45%off) from my work when my size came in. i was so happy. i put them on and wore them while working the whole rest of the day. i absolutely love them!


so dust might have been a little upset given the fact that we already dress alike due to both of us being sponsored by agent apparel in the early 2000's and then being sponsored by walker farm until recently. and we always wear jeans. so we do kinda look alike. but i do love my new shoes. so i was just getting over it when we went to my brother's house on thursday. he was not only wearing the same shoes as dust and i, but also the same shirt as dustin. so i guess it runs in my family to dress like dust.

well, howdy, folks!

we've been continuing to pack. i got several boxes shipped to the manix's farm. and tomorrow we will go to buy actual luggage so's we can get the stuff we need now and right when we get there--home. we even made the treck to my brother's to visit the baby and drop a car load off there. we got the kitties their kitty valium--just in case. we signed our outrageous lease, and sent a check. so i guess, come thursday, we might be ready to jump on a plane. we had the work dinner tonight. we went out with my two favorite people from work, matt and tim (and their honies) and another girl named manami. so i work monday and wednesday. then no more La foot. we had melissa and andy here wednesday night. they were on their way to get andy's dad. so it was nice to say good bye to them. we even went to the hot chip show on thursday with meg and forrest (our two favorite berkeley--ites). so we have had busy and fun times. we are continuing to eat out as much as possible in hopes that we will get sick of it, and not miss having great restaurants around. i think we are about done. ( but don't tell dust.) we have to just get a box for the rock band drums and mail them off ( we could not ship them before melissa and andy got here. they need it, too). other than that, i think we just have to put stuff in bags and go. not so bad. so it all seems real now, and i am ready to come home to my friends. below are just some pictures from the week. enjoy. next week, you could be on here!!


to ben's baby emma smiles now!



meg and forrest post amazing hot chip show!!

oh yes!

i almost forgot, i got another 100% on quiz 2. we'll see if we can get a turkey. that would pad the chem grade. also i bought a new "california approved" winter coat. it is no where near warm enough for vermont, so it will stay here for the summer. but i will describe it so you guys get a feel for it. it is a white, wool pea coat. single breasted and knee length. it will look nice with dressy clothes and fancy with jeans. i pretty much love it. when we first got here, they were way too expensive. but seasons change and with that, prices go down. and now that i am working, and it was 75% off. so i got it. when dust gets home, i will try to take a photo. you guys will love it. and happy birthday again to kristin, quinn and jack.

two birthdays have happened

since i last wrote, two very important people in my life have celebrated another birthday. they share a few similarities. their honeys are away, they are living in their own house, both don't usually do too much to celebrate their birthday, and i have not talked to either since before their birthday. so i am sad. i want to know what quinn and kristin did for their birthdays. kristin's birthday was friday, the 18th. i worked all day and got off too late to call her (durn those time zones). that day we were awoken by a call from our new car insurance company at 6:45 am (again--durn those time zones). needless to say, i woke up very grumpy. i don't usually get up until 8:45. so, i woke up 2 hours early. you all know how i don't like mornings. i would just as soon miss them all. but no! this guy called and left a message. can you believe it? after the phone rang, the neighbors started in with the hammering and the kitties started singing to get out of the room. when i got to work, i decided to be happy. it worked. just needed a mind change. then i came home at 6:30, and dust was grumpy. he was tired of being bored while i am at work. he is ready to work. to cheer him up and celebrate the coach's birthday, we made the 10 mile trip to the infamous in n out burger. it was a nice night. after eating we came home and watched more episodes of lost. not a bad day really.
the 18th is quinn's day. i was to work. it was chilly, and dust went to tahoe to see shea. i bought new shoes and watched lars and the real girl. it was good. it made me cry. i have been saying for a few days that i think i would feel better if i got a good cry out. i did feel better. i spent the nights with the kitties. i had bought a bottle of champagne, but the idea of solo drinking was not so appealing. so i watched the movie and did a little chemistry. i went to bed around 1am. as i turned out the light, albee jumped on the bed like usual. he looked for dustin, and jumped down. he went into the closet and just started putting on a show. i thought i was home free because there was no snoring from next door and no hammering from downstairs. i thought the night would be easy. boy was i wrong. the concert put on for mona and i lasted nearly half an hour. i did everything i could, but he just kept going back into the closet to cry. and dustin thinks albert doesn't like him!!! as albee got done, mona who was sitting patiently by the door, started her own chorus. i had to put her on the bed twice to get her to be quiet. she was much easier to pacify. the neighbors, never ceasing to amaze, began with the hammering at 6:30. this continued until 8 when a man walking down the street started screaming. ahh. life in the city.
i made it through both the birthdays. i hope they did, too. i hope they had so much fun, they didn't notice their honey was missing. i hope they got everything they wanted and then some. i hope they both want to keep the celebrations rolling when we get home. we want to celebrate with both of them. happy birthday, y'all.
and jack, dustin's dad's birthday is tomorrow. we will have to find a way to celebrate that here. any reason to celebrate. and we have a chilled bottle of champagne. :) take it easy, jack, don't work too hard. be sure to get a few games of hearts in. maybe get a doughnut during coffee time. eat a big piece of cake and a little one for me. make it a best day. know that we love all three of you. we love jack the most because he is the oldest (isn't that sebastian's logic?).

i'm back!!

hey team. as you know, i started my second semester of organic chemistry this week. for starters, the first two sections are covered by no book. no book. i mean this is a class i have no idea what is going on, and now there is no book. what is the deal? so i read and read and read all the little handouts i printed out at the library on monday. and today, i took my quiz. i was a little nervous becuase what do i know about organic chemistry? but turns out i know a little. i got a 100%. check out my big brain. ooooooh, cortney has a big brain! finally. i am back.

we also spent the day getting the car looked at. it was time for the transmission to be checked. so we got to walk all over our neighborhood running errands. it was nice. we ate a freeze (ice cream mixed with m&m's---yummy!) we mailed a lot of packages. so if you find your birthday coming (quinn and kristin), your gift should be there in, like, three days. so start getting excited. we wrapped. not just dinky boxes the post office gives you. real wrapping paper. we're fancy and citified. we also mailed our first box (my shoes) to the farm. should be there in 8 days). we got the call that the car was done in the middle of the afternoon and we walked down to get it. it was less than $70. never in my life have i had car maintenance done (besides oil changes, of course) for under $100. so that was nice.

we also started season 4 of the wire. this is the season everyone says is the best. i miss all my people i have gotten to know for 3 seasons, but i will get used to these little kids. and i know i am hooked because we watched the three episodes on the dvd. and no we get to mail it back to netflix. man, what a good day.

i'll have to tell you about the hiking trip we took with forrest last weekend. i got a few pictures, but you need to see forrest. that way you know he exists. and we saw cows in berkeley. we had heard rumors, but now we know that there really are cows in berkeley.

also we saw the bank job last night with the guy from the transporter in it. i like that dude. he is cute. it was a true story about a bank robbery in london. i liked it. it seemed like an old timey movie--all wind up, then climax, then credits. it was buy one get one free night at our brew and view, wednesday and all.

working tomorrow. i work right up until april 30th. then fly home the next day. can't wait to see you all.

dust goes to tahoe with forrest this weekend to get a little snowboarding in. i think he is ready to go there now. i am making him wait until saturday afternoon (he's working saturday morning), because i want him to bring me the car while i work. that way i don't have to park at my work. there is no parking around there, and the last time i parked there, i got a $36 ticket. so he has to wait until at least 5 to leave so that the two hour parking limit is not exceeded. also it means i get to tell my honey goodbye. see, big brain!

i know today was a nice day. i will have a few more before i get home. and this weekend, putney's temperature should be higher than ours. you go putney--ites. think of me while i am chilly and home alone with two kitties. not so bad, but, two days is nothing. hope you all have a good day, too.

one down nine to go

today was a day of doing. i realized that i had been living my life waiting for things to be over and done with. this is not usually like me. so this weekend marked me taking my life back and having fun. i am officially done with 90% of everything i set out to do here. the one exception is finishing organic chem 2. after quitting my job, i realized i had no more stress in my life. rent was paid, we have a place in vt, taxes are done, chem one is done and passed. why lose sleep? so i am done with all that. today, after my half day (i will give you that story in a minute), dust and i had a date. he was going to take me to the store where this shirt he had been talking about was for sale, and then we would go for lunch and delicious frogurt. i didn't eat breakfast so i would be ready to lunch. also i tried on a pair of my favorite pants and my butt was too big to fit in them any longer, but still happy, i changed into jeans and went to work.
monday's i get off at 2pm. bonus. dust and i went to telegraph, an area i usually try to avoid. but that is where the shirt was and the frozen yogurt is there, too. so we go. i bought him the shirt (a hoodie). and it looks good on him, too. but i figured he needed a treat. if for nothing else than just putting up with me the last few weeks. i must have been little fun, always trying to get things done....boring.
so we also ate ate at this salad place (pretty yummy--and cheap!) then off for the best frozen yogurt in the area. blueberry flavored with chocolate chips. what could be better.?!
at work, i spent the first hour and a half having no one but customers talk to me. finally, i spoke to the manager. one point for la foot and zero points for me. i asked if he had seen the news story about the man who buried the red sox jersey (go ortiz) in the new yankee's stadium. he laughed and everything was ok. finally, i had to tell him that quitting the job was hard for me, too. and get this he offered me and dust his futon in his living room just to get me to stay. part of me is flattered, but the other part just feels sorry for them. stuck with boring people to work with. needless to say, it made for a long four hour shift.
all is good, though, because even la foot is temporary. and dust looks so cute in his new sweatshirt. we got to sit in window and eat salads and laugh.
i even managed to start part two of my class today. i have a new teacher (though the class is still on line), but this one seems more promising. the teacher is more thorough (so far) and the last half of the class is on biological parts of organic chemistry. so even i may get through this.

what you are about to see is shocking!

the 750's have joined the rank of madonna, the beatles, leonard cohen, and other hall of famers. we may very well be one of the only cover bands they allow in these hallowed halls. all the stars all showed up to cheer us on as we played our 8 song set that included run to the hills, tom sawyer, enter sandmand, won't get fooled again, flirtin' with disaster, and more! you should look for our ck in stores because we are huge. especially huge in asian countries. they even gave us that nice wall plaque. that is real gold. some fan sent us a shot of us while playing our songs. so that is what you have seen. tell everyone!! the 750's are coming and we will rock your socks off.
(sebastian, now that you have the tour bus--come join us in the hall of fame. it takes a lot of time playing the game---i mean rocking out--but you can do it. let's make it happen this summer!!)

i did it (not for kid-o's)

i really did it. i quit the running shoe job. i told them the end of the month would be my last day. that is two days longer than i wanted to work, but the boy looked like he was going to cry. really. upon giving him my two weeks, he put his hand to his forehead and stared at the floor. he told me how disappointed he was that i was only there one month because he had a lot of good applicants, and now i was leaving. blah blah blah. it is all emotional blackmail. but it totally worked. fortunately, they are letting me finish out my weeks there (for now at least) because we are lined up to live in a four bedroom house. so i know the little extra money will come in handy. i just hope now that the manix's will let us borrow one of their projectors so we can have all night rock band parties in one of the rooms we won't be using. :) so i guess now, everything that had to be done here is done. i should feel better, but i have stressed myself into a headache today. i just feel a little bad. i will get over it, though. it is hot here so i will put on a skirt and go play with dust tonight. maybe i 'll make him get me a drink. not so bad. i feel like i earned it. i hope they never know how i played them (the work that is--not the drinks--but i'll play them, too, i guess.)
overall, i am happy. i have everything i ever wanted. really i do. good shoes, a nice pocketbook, a honey i love, two kitties, and now a home in vt. (those are in no particular order!!) what more could a girl want? i'm sure i'll find it--what more a girl could want. and when i do, i will tell you all so we can all want it. :)
i am glad to hear that papa j gets home tonight. i don't like that allison being left alone with those boys for a whole week. she is probably the strongest lady i know. so i know those boys won't kill her, but i just want her to have her honey back. that is important. and he better bring back a super souvenir for everyone. maybe a baby monkey. that would be coooool!
and start planning the welcome home parties. we get home the same time claudia does. and then rob will be home. so i think you vermonter's only have a few weeks. no worries. when i get there, i will help with the planning, and we can do it at our place. get ready for a rocking summer!! and if we really get the house karen is finalizing for us, get ready to rock until the wee hours. and potential horsicopter fans, if you feel like making the journey to vermont, this summer is the time. we'll have room in the mcmansion for you.

****just an interesting side note@@@@@i did the spell check. for "mcmansion" the spell checker recommends "micronesian" so we will be living in a micronesian this summer.

one sucker here...

well i channeled the spirit of sebastian on tuesday. i decided i would dress up to celebrate my day off. dustin was not sure if i dressed up in fancy clothes or dressed up in costume. i had gotten these tights in san francisco, and i was dying to wear them, but i thought (before now) that it would just be too cold. so i had put off even opening them. until tuesday!! they are black with silver sparkles. i thought i looked so cute, but dustin said, "oh. that is how you are dressing up." i had to convince him how great i looked. you be the judge. i vote--good!




we started looking for luggage today. that was the big outing. we were comparison shopping. not so exciting, but that lets you all know that we are ready for the party sebastian and dorian are throwing us when papa j, rob, and dust and i get back to vermont. it will be my best day. i can't wait to see those littles. i am excited to have all our stuff again. even our beat up couch. i miss the movies. i miss our tv. i miss the papasan. i miss monday night exercise class. i really miss our bed. man, do i miss that bed!
we have karen running around town looking at potential places for us to live (thank you!!). we have taken the kitties for their shots (to ride in the plane, they have to have proof of their yearly shots). so things here are getting finalized. i signed up for organic chemistry 2 last week. we are finishing season 2 of lost so rob and quinn can start season three with us. i get to quit my job tomorrow. it has been really glamorous putting shoes on people, but i have learned a lot. so that is good. i am nervous to quit. i guess the worst they can do is just let me go on the spot, and that is not so bad, but i just hate quitting. i feel like i will let them down. and they do seem to like me. but it needs to be done. and it was going to happen sooner or later. at least i have a good excuse, we have to go home to our friends and family. and we will be back. better just to rip that band aid right off than to take it one pull at a time, right. so tomorrow, i put in my two weeks.
we went to dinner with our friend, forrest, last night. we went to our friend, meg's, work. she works at a japanese restaurant on fourth street (my favorite street). it was pretty good, but it was noodle soup. it was ok. the appetizers were great. we got spinach in peanut sauce (yummy) and tofu dumplings (good). it was nice to be out with friends. it seems rare that people we meet out here get sarcasm, but forrest and meg do, so we always have a good time with them. it was nice to be out at night. i know that sounds silly, but we have been eating in more. so a real dinner out with actual friends is nice. we appreciate it, you know.
how weird is it that in a matter of weeks, we will be home. part of this stint seems like we have been here forever. we spent so long not working. then we got jobs. we survived the chilly, rainy season and this weekend could get up into the high 80's. it stays sunny till 7:30, and before, when we got here, it was dark two hours earlier. i have been at my work for a month (just more) now. and dust has sold veggies for longer than that. so. that reminds me. i was going to upload a picture. upon further review of the "apron" it is not so visible, but i asked dust if i could show it, and he said yes. so i will. you have to look past the signs (the yellow laminated beasts) and you will see a little yellow apron at his waist.



sorry he is sideways. i will try to get my paparazzi skills better honed next time. but it is not bad for a first try. i hope this means that when we are short handed in the stand, dust is now qualified to come sell some produce to the folks who frequent our farm. let me know what you think. in two weeks and four days we will have been in california for a quarter of a year. that is no small hill of beans. it is no 128 hours that allison and jeremy are apart. and it is for sure no two months that rob and quinn will have been apart. but we, too, have felt alittle something missing from our lives for a quarter of a year. and it is you all. dorian, is speaking real words and sentences, sebastian has come up with crazy new songs that we have never heard, quinn and allison have done strip tease "workouts", kristin has a house we have never seen and a dog we've never met, penny has done so many things we don't know about...the list could go on and on. don't get me wrong, i love my time out here, and our new friends are fabulous. it is also really nice to see melissa and andy as often as we do. but we miss our vt homefries, too. jamie, james, kristina, we miss you guys too. and it has been far, far too long since we got to squeeze your necks. let's all work on that. (come visit). love to all.

i'ma get it for this one!

a few weeks ago i promised a picture of dust working. this was mostly for karen's benefit because i know she would love to see dust in his little apron at work. well. today, i snuck the camera into the farmer's market. low and behold, i don't think dust ever noticed. but a picture was taken. i gave him my word not to put it on the blog. so let me hear you make some noise for the picture. that way i have ammunition when dust says, "you promised you wouldn't put a picture of me in the apron on the blog." then i can say, " dust, you have a fan club who really wants the pictures this paparazzi can get, and you know, if there is a market for the photos, i gotta put 'em out there. it is my duty as a real blogger." that is how the conversation will go down. i am sure of it! so leave a comment as to whether i should put it up or not. and when the put-it-ups have it, it will go up. otherwise, the picture stays on the card.

also i have an update. it seems that i misunderstood melissa's potential job title. she alerted me to the fact that she will have nothing to do with the bay area's poop at her new job. she will only deal with drinking water. bonus, for her, she will not have a real sh*t job, eh.

also today is melissa's birthday. so shout outs to her. andy's making a feast for friends when they come over to celebrate. she said they would be drinking. so i told her to drink until she could drink the cynar. happy birthday, melc. know that i love you.

what i love

we saw this today:



the real one is supposed to look like this:





i got to thinking about what i was "missing" by living in the country for so long. we don't get billboards in vermont. so that cuts down on alot of the advertising i see. also since we don't get tv. so if npr doesn't tell us about it, we may not know. but i would say, all in all, we are pretty hip.
so the list begins...

i like to be here on the west coast and here is why:
i get to see actual people wearing actual fashions.
i can find places that sell second hand fashions and purchase those because they are affordable.
i can work enough hours (at a part time job) to pay the entire rent. ( i know this is not the norm, but it works for now.)
i can eat any kind of food out that i feel like eating. and all the restaurants are good--or they would not still be open.
i love gay men. there is a radio station that plays "dance music". normally, this would be in the "do not like column," but you add seriously funny gay men as the dj's and suddenly, it is my favorite music.
and folks like that we also hear things like young i love having a choice of radio stations. there are about 4 npr stations that are local, the gay man station, and an old school r&b station that plays marvin gaye and tammye tarrell, and otismc, mc lyte, tone loc and candyman!!!!--it is great. it is nice to not just listen to npr all the time.
we have a tv that picks up actual stations. as dorky as it sounds, i have now seen a bit of a few episodes of american idol, and it was ok to good. (my favorite girl already got voted off, so i may not be a regular at watching it, but...hey, i've seen it. )
i can go to any number of shopping areas and just walk around and watch people.
we have cupcake stores.
we get to go to shows and dance. i love dancing. i love shows.
people here expect you to be smart. multiple times while tying people's shoes, they have asked me what college i went to or did i move out here to go to uc berkeley.... never before have i lived anywhere where people assume you are smart. it is a nice feeling.
people here are active. on the way to pick dust up from work the other day, i was held up by a gaggle of people supporting a free tibet. women in pink are always protesting outside of the marine recruiting office, tree sitters are right across the street from the uc berkeley campus. it is nice to see people getting fired up about things again.
i am not writing this to tell everyone why i do not want to go back east, i just thought i had been here long enough to tell everyone what some of the perks to here were. i assume most of you know the perks to vermont. friends, affordable rent (really), the farm, friends, most of the crazies are weeded out by the weather,friends, i can be second most fashionable (next to quinn or kristina--depending on who is out), friends, vermont has a comfy feeling of permanence to it, and did i say we miss our friends???
any way. there are more things i like about being here, but i've gone on enough for now. but we will be home soon. in fact, dust said the girl we sublease from came by today. perks to this are we can now park inside our little gated community, downfalls, i can't quite shake the feeling that we should not be here if she lives here, you know. she is staying with her parents a few towns away. your comments on that are welcome. i don't know where we would go. being that we have two cats, and plane tickets home for may and no place to live in vermont... just a few major things. i guess if we found a place to live, we could pay to change our tickets and that would be fine, but what a weird pickle, you know. so let me know what you think about all this. what do you like about vermont, or the bay area. leave out the weather comments, because that is just painful. and feel free to mention the fact that outside we have flowers blooming at any time of year here in sunny california.
all for today folks.
love you
clm

break out the cynar

our friends melissa and andy came for a visit sunday night. that means we finally got to crack open that bottle of cynar (artichoke liquor) we have had since vaentine's day. i liked it, so did andy, but no one else did. cynar needs to be mixed with a splash of soda and a little oj. then it is an intersting (but likable--to me) drink. they had to come down not only for the cynar, but also melissa had a job interview on tuesday at east bay m.u.d. this company is responsible for disposing of the bay area's waste water and sewage. sounds horrible to me, but she just graduated with a degree in environmental engineering so it is her dream job. she was told to purchase a suit, heels and hose for the interview. nothing too flashy, though. i agree with the old adage that you should beware of institutions that require new clothes (unless you want to get those clothes that are required). she was not too pumped about the suit. so we experimented with the shirt. we spent monday afternoon at target and macy's (andy and dustin in tow). we got her a cute purple shirt (our favorite colour) at target and some cute pointy toed patent leather heals. i said she should express at least a little of her personality in her outfit. turns out i was right. as she walked in, the main guy doing the interview commented on her shoes. bonus. it really set her at ease. yet again, stress averted just by having the right shoes. (fellas take it in. avoid confrontation by buying your lady some shoes. potential crisis averted.) they told her as soon as a position for a junior engineer opened, it would be hers. so that is exciting. andy, her husband, dressed in purple for solidarity. here is the before picture:



this is at 9 in the morning. she had been up in time to curl her hair. who has that kind of time in the morning. never in my life have i seen melissa stressed. it was impressive. she kept it together, and they should know how badly she wants this job. she is already planning a career with them. so that is nice to see. as long as i have known melissa, she has never had a real job. maybe waitressing now and then, but a real job--unheard of. so it was nice to see her really want to get things right and work toward something. just so she knows she can do it. she even skipped out on going to see planet b-boy with dust and andy and i. (a fabulous movie by the way. really worth seeing it on the big screen. people can do some amazing things with their bodies. it was amazing. we were all smiling and wiggling uncontrollably to the movie. dust even clapped afterwards--that never happens. ) but she skipped out on the movie to focus on the next day's tasks. talk about devotion.
while she was at the interview, dust and i took the kitties to the vet for their shots so that they can fly on the plane. a super expensive trip that was no fun for anyone, but it is done, and we have diet cat food in hopes of having two little kitties again......
so we get home (i had to take dust to work) and we drink a glass of champagne to celebrate.



then we hit the town, and we got new eyeshadow (blue for me). andy didn't get any make up. but we went to see dustin at work at the farmer's market. it was a nice day. i dropped melissa and andy off at the house and picked dustin up early so we could go see the red sox take on the oakland a's.
there were at least 50% red sox fans at the oakland season opener. we not only won, we got to see some home runs. our area was full--FULL-- of red sox fans. we were all yelling and laughing. it was great! we went back today with melissa and andy. it was a noon game. so we showed dust the southern art of tail gating.


we stood outside the car (we didn't bring chairs), talked to other sox fans around our parking space and ate food and drank pabst genuine draft (the cheap beer). because that is what you do at a tailgate party. usually there is grilling involved, but it was too early for grilling. some may argue that it should have also been too early for drinking, but we knew we would be at the park for a while, and ballpark prices are outrageous. so we drank early. and you know what--we got to see papi hit his first homerun of the season! it was spectacular. the sox shut down the a's. the a's had nothing. no points--few hits, but nothing amazing. and public yelling.

yes! i love public yelling. it really made the games that much more fun for me. we ate a lot of crappy food at the games as well.



note the new red pocketbook. (thaks ebay!)


note that that hat was a little full of popcorn when dust put it on andy's head. and the super fans!!

so that is what we are up to here. baseball games and rock star lifestyles. we do it up over here. soon we will do it up over there. keep searching for us a place to live. we will soon be homeless--or sleeping on your couches. :) xoxo to all.

big news.

well, it was an average day. so far. i woke up, checked the email. looking for my grade, i realized i finally had a response from my teacher--i "squeaked by" with a 70% in my online organic chemistry class. evidently, this much work earns you a 70%:


he actually said "squeaked by." that's not too nice. maybe he is a joker, but i would never know because i never heard from him. but alas the class is really done, and all along i said i only wanted a C. i guess i just expected more. maybe in round two. and i am not really upset. i just feel like i did more work than a 70. but that is all i needed. so squeaking by is not so bad.