All Arin All the Time

Closing in One Week.

2008-05-10T10:04:00.006-04:00

Okay, it's been a long time (over a month) since my last post. I'm sure those of you who are already home-owners know why... this process is crazy and hectic! There's all of the back-and-forth over the inspection when you make peace over and over again with letting the house go, the conversations with the mortgage broker, digging up a tremendous amount of paperwork, signing another tremendous amount of paperwork, negotiating the best home owners insurance (which we'll talk more about in a minute) and finally sitting around for a little while thinking "there must be something I'm forgetting to do", watching HGTV and researching appliances online.
So, about that home owners insurance. First important point: you need it to buy a home. Second important point: Andrea and I have been burglarized three times over the last three years.

30 days after we moved in someone reached in the 2nd floor window while we were asleep and stole my laptop (and a $2.99 Ikea lamp. Chumps.)
30 days later someone actually kicked in the bottom half of the front door of our apartment, crawled through, and stole my new laptop and a bunch of jewelry. And sorted through our stuff, leaving via the back door which they left WIDE OPEN so all of my cats got fleas.
Maybe a year and a half later someone cut Andrea's bike off of the fence outside during the middle of the night and hauled it away.

Important point: we had renters insurance - yay! We made claims for each of the incidents to replace the laptops and the bike.
Second Important point: apparently actually having a need to use your renters insurance means that no one will give you home owners insurance.

That's right - everyone we called said "oh, I'm so sorry, I wish I could but it's against our policy to insure you." Now, you can't buy a house without home owners insurance so we were in a bit of a panic. I did get a quote for $2,000 (which is double what we'd be paying without having made claims with Allstate). Finally, Andrea whined and complained to an agent who was in the process of rejecting us and her "charm" prompted him to call his friend at Nationwide, give her a heads up, and have her look at our file by credit report and not by insurance history. Thank god, because we now have HMI for $979/year and are also saving another $45/month on auto.

So, with HMI taken care of, we've been procrastinating packing until we close (stupid, yes, but until just this weekend I really felt like this could fall through at any moment and we'd be jinxing it if we packed anything).

We've also been dealing with the fact that our apartment is being shown almost daily by Philly Apartment Company (in fact, there's a showing today at 2:30) so we've been trying to keep the apartment as clean and good-looking as possible so that someone rents it asap. It's getting exhausting.

And in the middle of all of this Hedgerow celebrated its 85th Birthday April 25-27th (complete with front page article in the Inquirer) so I've been completely insane. And Andrea's been working at Borders on Wednesday evenings and all day Saturday (in addition to her FT position at the Mazzoni Center) so she's been completely insane. We'll be on to greener, more insane pastures in just one week and there's some Sullivan family coming to help us out! Now, anyone reading this is also welcome to come help pack, haul or organize (although we've already charged Kendra with organizing the hallway closets in the new place). Let me know if you want to help!

Holy Crap

2008-04-04T18:11:00.001-04:00

We're buying a house. They're fixing what we need them to fix (minimally, but alright) and we've told them we'll take it. Next step: mortgage. Final step: you all help us move and paint the walls in our current apartment white.

Yippeeee!

One Step Closer to Homeownership

2008-03-26T21:21:00.004-04:00

Okay folks, we had the inspection yesterday morning and the results are in: the house is not haunted and we didn't get any really bad news. Sure, there are a couple little roof issues and the bathroom door doesn't actually close all the way (still want to come over for dinner?) but it's in solid shape altogether.

So now we finish all this crazy paperwork for the mortgage, do some negotiation around some of the issues we did find (dad, can you un-reverse the polarity in a couple of outlets for me?), and keep our fingers crossed until our May 16 closing date. In the meantime, I'm going to try to stop going to Ikea once a week (I've been there three times in as many weeks) and try to unload our apartment. Anyone want a 1.5 bedroom with back yard in the Art Museum area?

We took more pictures and updated the album - click on the slideshow below to check them out!

Inspection Tuesday Morning...

2008-03-23T22:49:00.004-04:00

So we're on to the next step with the house. The inspection is Tuesday morning, and I'll be there taking pictures (this time I'll remember). Of course, I'm worrying that something is wrong with the place (like haunting or structural damage) but in the meantime I'm dreaming about the wardrobe system I'll be installing in the little bedroom of the place and organizing the kitchen in my head. For now, here's the link to the pictures I took on my iPhone when we signed all of the preliminary paperwork. Closing date, by the way, is May 16th!

New House?

Cross Your Fingers...

2008-03-11T21:45:00.008-04:00

We made an offer on a house at 1350 N Palethorp. That's about a block and a half north of Girard between Front and Second Streets. The offer's in to the seller, so let's all keep our fingers crossed that:

they accept the offer
the inspection does not reveal some crazy structural damage, horrible plumbing, and/or dead bodies in the basement
all of my careful budgeting pans out

Here's the link to the listing, please don't outbid me!

http://www.solorealty.idxco.com/idx/2902/details.php?idxID=072&listingID=5275333

Arin

I found it!...

2008-03-02T19:30:00.003-05:00

...but it's out of our price range.

So we went to a couple open houses today. We looked at houses for $239,000 in the Queen Village and Bella Vista neighborhoods and discovered that they're not very big and tend to have wildy windy oddly carpeted stairs. Andrea hates these stairs and I broke the railing in one house (or it came off in my hand and I shoved it back into position on the wall...). Anyway, it turns out that even if we could afford these places we don't want them. They are small, cramped trinities and violet would have a hell of a time with the stairs. And our furniture wouldn't fit in the living room.

After our open house adventure we went home and I took the lovely Violet for a walk. We ran into an open house at 2214 Brandywine and I decided to see how the other half lives. Well, they live well. In fact, they live exactly how I'd like to live. $625,000 would buy me the perfect house. Although I told the woman that it was "just" out of my price range it is obviously well beyond our ability to buy it. I'm including the link so that you can fall it love with it and then slit your wrists just like I did: 2214 Brandywine Street.

Urine Soaked Crack-House

2008-02-28T20:15:00.004-05:00

So remember that house that we were excited about? Yeah. It's seriously been used as a crack house. It was in a really awesome location (938 N Randolph Street in Northern Libs). Unfortunately it was was saturated with urine and Andrea was afraid we might fall through the floor. There were ominous dark spots on the carpet and holes in walls, floors and doors. It was in such bad shape rats and squirrels wouldn't even inhabit it. Needless to say we won't be putting an offer in on that one (and our realtor was horrified, which I thought was a good sign).
The other two had so much wood paneling that we were immediately transported back to our grandma's houses. In the 1970's. They were also way too far south (we're using Tasker as our furthest point south... we'll see how that goes.)

This evening Andrea and I looked at 1210 Gerritt Street... it's super fabulous but has some ominous cracks in the walls and uneven floors. Like, it maybe all tilts west. Also, the kitchen upstairs is basically fake. It's got a stovetop and a sink, but the real deal is in the basement... along with a little toilet in a small saloon to the left of the water heater... Uh, this is clearly our new home. Seriously, it's the right size, the right location... it just will need lots of wallpaper, carpet and kitchen love... We're going to try to find out if it's the money-pit and we'll keep you posted!

Here's the link to the house:
http://www.prufoxroach.com/search/search_results_profile.cfm?propID=52ef30a1-ea00-444a-a1ae-0f5739609482&propNo=1

House Hunting

2008-02-23T18:10:00.002-05:00

Okay folks, we're buying a house. Well, at least we are going to try! Stay posted for pictures of the places we check out along with witty commentary (yes, Andrea will provide the commentary. I know I'm not witty).
This is the house we are currently excited about:

Philadelphia - $ 172,900
County:
Philadelphia
School District:
Philadelphia
Listing Number:
5260365
Home Type:
Rowhome/Townhouse
Living Area:
1518 sqft
Beds: 3
Baths:1 Full

Comments About This Property
Home is located in Northern liberties. Property is a 3 story straight thru rowhouse with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Has living room, dining room & eat in kitchen. Is being sold in as condition . Corporate addendum to follow accepted AOS.
Interior FeaturesBasement Type: Full BasementFireplace #: No FireplaceKitchen: Eat In KitchenInfrastructure FeaturesHeat Delivery Method: Hot Water HeatWater: Public WaterCooking Fuel: Gas CookingLaundry Hook-Ups: Basement LaundryPrimary Heat: Gas HeatCooling: No A/CSewer: Public SewerHot Water: Gas Hot WaterType: Row/Townhouse
Exterior FeaturesExterior Materials: Brick ExteriorGarage Spaces: No GarageParking (Ex Garage): Street ParkngSwimming Pool: No PoolStyle: Straight ThruDesign: Three+StoryAccessibility FeaturesAccessibility Features: No Modifications/Unknown

National Arts Marketing Project Conference... MIAMI!

2007-11-11T18:51:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I attended the National Arts Marketing Conference in Miami, FL with a big group of Arts Marketers from Philly. The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance offered a scholarship and, no surprise, response was overwhelming from the Philadelphia cultural orgs. Just under 50 of us found ourselves in sunny, construction-laden downtown Miami for four days of conference (web 2.0 and "viral marketing" were the catchphrases of the weekend) and indulging. Somehow I slept less there than I do on a given weekend in Philly...

Here's a link to the pictures and some video of the people dancing on the wall in Southbeach (also below): http://picasaweb.google.com/arindenise/NationalArtsMarketingProjectConference.

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween from Gang Green

2007-10-28T23:08:00.000-04:00

That's right, Gang Green. Need I say more? Thank you Kendra, for having the vision and making it a reality.

Link to pics of Gang Green attending Len's party here.

Casey Boyle & Kevin Bittle Wedding

2007-10-28T19:29:00.001-04:00

On Thursday Andrea and I drove down to Virginia Beach to see one of my college roommates, Casey Boyle, marry her Navy sweetheart Kevin Bittle. It was a long, rainy trip (and Andrea and I travel SO well together) but the wedding was great. Casey was gorgeous, of course, and it was great to finally meet Kevin after hearing so much about him.

We spent Thursday night with Chuck and Carrie in Waterman's Bar and Grill (with the locals, including a couger who definately left early to get it on in a car parked directly 0utside). Carrie was in rare form and dug through the cougers bags of halloween costumes, trying them on herself, the bar's manager, and Chuck, Andrea and I.

It was great to see most of my college roommates (and Charile Fidele). Adrienne was definately missed, but we all drank one in her honor!

Click here to see the pictures from the weekend.

Rochester Visit

2007-09-23T22:17:00.000-04:00

So, in the middle of all of this total insanity of new jobs and end of Fringe Festival, Andrea and I took a little road trip to Rochester to spend some quality time with friends. I didn't take nearly enough pictures but we did see just about everyone we could in a 48 hour period!
Des and Maison's toy-littered front yard with (with Fennel and Andrea in the foreground and Pancetta the Pig in the background) pretty much sums the trip up. Violet (see second picture) was simply exhausted. Click here for more pics, including some of Andrea's BEAUTIFUL nephew Makhi and the lovely Madonia kids. Oh yeah, there are also pictures of the Tubia-Scahill hellions!

Second Annual Spring Garden Beer Olympics

2007-09-05T21:41:00.001-04:00

Ridiculous outfits. Slosh ball. Gym class rejects. Beer. Add in a little perfect weather and you've got the Second Annual Spring Garden Beer Olympics. I don't think I can actually explain this event - you may just have to look at the pictures. All I can say is that we started the day with an opening ceremony complete with a torch and the Star Spangled Banner and ended it with beer pong and a Miller Chill bottle. You'll have to look through the photo album and discover the rest of the highlights yourself. My muscles are too sore.

Your captains, Dan and Arin, would like to thank you for all of your hard work. See you next year!

Seafood Extravaganza II

2007-09-05T21:33:00.000-04:00

Before the lovely Shawnda Urie and the handsome Chris Holden left town to buy houses and have babies, we celebrated the feast of fish. Rachel, Kendra, Andrea, Chris, Shawnda and I played some Twister, soaked ourselves in butter, and ate until we could no longer move. Then, because it was the next natural step, we put small dog shirts on our fat fat cats. You can see all of that and more if you follow this link.

We'll miss you Chris and Shawnda! Rochester is lucky to have you back.

Mary & Nate Preston's Hawaii Wedding

2007-08-20T21:50:00.000-04:00

So, the whole Sullivan family packing into the plane (okay, a couple different planes, but you get the picture) and traveled to the Island of Oahu, HI for my little sister's wedding ceremony. Mary's the middle child, the quiet one, and probably the nicest one. She married her long-time boyfriend Nate in a beautiful beachfront ceremony at 9am on Tuesday, July 24th. This was the most low-key, low-stress wedding ever (outside of adventures in bobby-pins and Angela's intimate engagement with the paved parking lot). I'm the hottie in the strapless dress with the sweet sunburn.

Here's the link to the web album.

Of course, after the wedding we had time to relax and enjoy some time with each other in the AWESOME house Mom rented for the week (rat watch, pina coladas and a beautiful backyard pool). We also had adventures playing in the waves at the North Shore, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay and wandering around Waikiki.

Here's the link to the rest of the pics.

And here, just for fun, is a little sample of my brother Andrew's best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression:

Girl Scout Theme Parties Rule!

2007-06-04T22:55:00.000-04:00

That's right folks, although I was never a real girl scout (which I think actually angered some of the top cookie sellers in attendance at the party) Kendra, Martha and I threw a girl scout themed party. Yes, those are badges you see on our official Martha-style sashes. What you'll also see (in the below slide-show) is a fine pair of green knee high socks on each of us. Oh man, we were HOT.

However, you'll see in the pics at the website (click on the below slideshow), Andrea prefers Brownies...

Happy Birthday Kendra!

2007-05-15T00:02:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I haven't posted these yet - here are a few of the pictures from Kendra and Jen's "Goodbye 20's Hello 30's" Birthday Party (guess how old they were...). It was theme heaven - thank god our friends love us and dressed up too!

Here's the link to the rest of the pics.

Makhi Joseph Matthew Farrier

2007-05-03T22:08:00.000-04:00

Kendra had her baby (Andrea's nephew) on April 25th at 2:52am. She pulled through labor like a champ, and although he was 5 weeks early he was 19" long and weighed 5 lbs and some change (I'm getting the stats from Andrea). He's a beautiful little boy, and I promise not to call him "Big Mac" too much (because Kendra hates it - but really, she should accept the inevitable!)

Andrea drove up to Rochester to meet him and took these great photos. There's also some video that I'll toss on youtube and link to once they are uploaded.

Here's the link to the pics - there are some super cute ones!

A Very Busy Week!

2007-04-08T16:23:00.000-04:00

The last week in March was BUSY. Troy and Gus came down to Philly to see the Justin Timberlake concert (Pink opened and was AWESOME). They stayed Mon-Fri and then on Friday we all drove to Rochester. Troy and Gus just needed to go home and Andrea and I needed to a) see our friends, b) see Anna's play (Godspell) and c) see Andrea's pregnant sister Kendra. We did all of the above and had a great and busy time.

Picture links:
Troy and Gus Visit (and concert photos)
Trip to Rochester

These girls knew Justin was singing only to them!

Pink's awesome closing number - with an aerial display!

St. Patrick's Day 2007

2007-03-23T19:16:00.000-04:00

I actually can't believe I survived St. Patrick's Day this year. No, I didn't drink as much as some (no Irish Car Bombs for me - see video below) but I think I ate my weight in irish soda bread. With butter. Lot's of butter. Lot's of fun and food were had by all, and we ROCKED Guitar Hero like it has never been rocked before.

Okay, like always, click here to view pictures of the party at my yahoo photos site. Martha, there are at least 2 new MySpace pics in there for you!

Dan and Shawnda compete! Shawnda (almost) wins!

Shawnda and Chris RAWK! And my video skills are awesome.

Dog Vs. Cat!

2006-12-30T01:05:00.000-05:00

This is how I spend my time... Violet vs. Sadie!!

Sullivan Family Christmas

2006-12-26T00:13:00.000-05:00

That's right folks - we survived! The Sullivan family Christmas in Philadelphia was a total success. As I type my stomach threatens to burst forth from my pants because of the amount of food I've eaten - but otherwise it was all good!

We attended the longest mass ever with a boys choir who sang EVERYTHING and had our own photo shoot in front of the Art Museum (Dad drove right up on the sidewalk to park with hardly a pause). Rocky's crotch is in the picture to the left, and the Art Museum's Christmas tree is below.

Now I've got tons of presents (including the knee socks I needed, thanks Andrew) and about a week of vacation to look forward to!

Mary's on the phone in the picture below...

...and here's a link to the photo album!

Violet is NOT Photogenic

2006-12-17T11:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, so maybe not the BEST looking dog in pictures, but seriously she is awesome. She's learning how to walk on a leash and no longer has chronic diarrhea. We win!

Luckily, I look good with her.

Violet Viriginia Taylor-Sullivan

2006-11-07T09:47:00.000-05:00

Holy crap. We adopted a dog.

Kathy and Vicki found this chihuahua wandering around outside of their apartment building at 5th and Cecil B Moore. She had a plastic zip tie around her neck, was super skinny, and was perhaps living in an abandoned building. Since Kathy and Vicki already have three dogs (three!) they were looking for someone to take the chihuahua. When Kathy mentioned her at breakfast (Honey's Sit-n-Eat - best ever breakfasts!) we thought we'd check her out. It was love at first sight and after a trial period with our cats (will they claw her eyes out?) she got to stay with us.

I have now lost my mind and am buying her clothing (like the above pink coat with hood) and making her shirts out of old socks. The dog is ALWAYS cold, as a mexican dog might be expected to be, so we pretty much keep her dressed all the time. What? A dog that is also a doll and accessory? The hell you say! So, anyway, here are pics of Violet Viriginia. We also call her "Shakes". And you can thank Adrienne for the Halloween shirt!

Oh! And to add further testiment to my insanity, here is a link to a group I just joined: Philly Chihuahua Meetup Group
Click and enjoy!

Atlantic City Never Saw It Coming!

2006-10-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

It was a big day in Atlantic City for me, Andrea, my mom, my Aunt Nancy, and my Aunt Barb and Uncle Nick. It started with all you can eat seafood (a delicious buffet experience that started with a lot of butter and ended with piles of chocolate.) My full belly and $2 win on the lottery tickets my mom gave me for my birthday should have prepared me for what came next...

For the first time EVER I did not have a miserable gambling experience. I usually sit in front of the slot machines and get sadder and sadder while the balance on my little ticket thing gets lower and lower. I play the slots because they are the only ones I understand (and don't fear). In fact, I can only play the quarter slots, because the nickle and penny slots are somehow VERY expensive and the dollar slots are definately very expensive (my $20 ticket does not last long there). This time, although I didn't get an a-cha from my mom at any point during the trip, with the family there I played the big wheel with the dollars on it. Playing as a group is great, because no matter what number it lands on someone you know wins! So while Andrea played the table, I siphoned her winnings away and we walked away up a couple bucks (although I think Uncle Nick supplied the seed money so it doesn't really count). And finally at the end of the day I hit it big ($19 big!) on the slot machines. That's success right there.

Here's the photo album - aren't we a good looking group?

Atlantic City Trip

Pumpkin Carving and Star Wars

2006-10-22T01:59:00.000-04:00

Today (Saturday) was a very busy day. We met friends for breakfast (Honey's Sit 'n Eat in No. Libs - so good). Then we went on Kendra's Harvest Day Pumpkin and Apple picking trip to Linvilla, which is crawling with kids but also has a ton of fried food (apple fritters, pumpkin funnel cake...) so is okay. Came home, took nap, saw a show (the MPiRP resident company New Paradise Laboratories - their work-in-progress BATCH: A BACHELOR/ETTE PARTY IN SIX ROUNDS at Drexel). Finally, we came home with Kendra to carve pumpkins, watch Star Wars and drink hot chocolate. Now THAT is a very busy, seasonally thematic, day.

PS - I carved the cat pumpkin... I rule.
PPS - I forgot that we also met a Chihuahua that we might adopt. Kathy found her in the street up near her loft and she is CUTE. She's young, and really sweet. We are going to take her overnight on Tuesday to see if the cats will be able to deal with her living here. How cool would it be to have a Chihuahua? Me Quiero Taco Bell!

(Click to enlarge)

AIDS Walk 2006 with the cast of THE LARAMIE PROJECT

2006-10-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

This year the cast of THE LARAMIE PROJECT joined the Department of Performing Arts team for the 20th annual AIDS Walk. The weather was perfect, the leaves were just turning, and 9 miles felt very long. We handed out a whole mess of LARAMIE flyers, and got in a little fun along the way. Click on the photo below to check out the album.

AIDS Walk 2006

Jessica Montello's CT Wedding

2006-10-02T22:36:00.000-04:00

The lovely Jessica Montello married her longtime fiance Andrew in a CT wedding on October 1, 2006. Flo, Andrea and I headed up on Saturday and enjoyed dinner and drinks with Cecelia, Elizabeth, Ximena, Rafael and the kids that evening. As per usual I tortured everyone with photo-taking. Enjoy the photo album below - I used the google albums thing from Picasa. Not sure if I prefer it to yahoo photos, but I thought I'd give it a rumble!

Jessica Montello's CT Wedding

Sep 30, 2006 - 172 Photos

1st Annual Beer Olympics

2006-09-04T18:33:00.000-04:00

If you missed the 1st Annual Philadelphia Beer Olympics, you missed a pretty killer time. A time in which my team was victorious in 90% of the challenges undertaken. And boy am I sore. Click on the link below to check out the rest of the pictures. I'm hoping that soon there will be some video on YouTube to point you to as well.

Prizes were awarded to best dressed, and if I were smart enough I would think of some way for you guys to vote from home. Feel free to comment with your choices. Our panel of independent judges awarded Cristina's wrestling outfit with the top prize last night.

Man am I pooped.

PICTURES!

!!!Adopt These Kittens!!!!

2006-08-22T22:41:00.000-04:00

These are the kittens that live in our back yard - we've finally managed to capture them on film. Well, Andrea actually stalked them for a day and took all of these fabulous pictures. But let's be honest, they are just the cutest things ever. I'm sure we could capture them and deliver them to you. They don't even seem to outdoors skanky. They need your love.

Here's the link to the pics: Outside Kittens.

My friend Fennel.

2006-08-21T16:08:00.000-04:00

Cantankørisms. Read it. Hilarious. Stanky. Just wrong. But SO right.

Hiking for your Birthday? Who does that?

2006-08-15T22:31:00.000-04:00

Dorilona does that.

On August 5th Kendra and I drove out to, okay, a far away hiking farm place that I can't remember the name of. It's a PA state park. If you like the pictures so much that you want to go, let me know and I'll find the right info. If you have spent any time with Kendra and I, you can imagine how our car ride up there went: "Oh! Look at the little farm houses! Isn't that a beautiful church? I love the way it smells out here. We're just leaving the city behind...!" You could pretty much insert any gay "yay nature" phrase in there and you would capture our entire 1.5 hour long journey (it's not really that far away, but there was traffic on the miserable Schuykill).

Anyway, the hike itself was awesome, we watched some ancient iron forging, and had a little picnic lunch. It was a delightful, sometimes buggy, sometimes exhausting wander in the woods with a really great group of people. And although I thought a Birthday Hike was pretty crazy (picture Andrea on a birthday hike with me...) I had a great time. And I will be hauling my fat ass on another hike sometime very soon.

As always, here's the picture link: Dorilona's Birthday Hike.

Desiree and Maison's Wedding (Finally!)

2006-07-31T20:59:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, July 29, 2006 our friends Desiree and Maison finally tied the knot and made their two children legitimate. Friends and family journeyed to Mohawk, New York and witnessed what they told us would be a "White Trash Wedding". In truth, it was a beautiful ceremony in Des' Mom's lovely home, covered with rose petals and threatened by a tornado and flash floods. However, we got our fill of the toothless locals when we went to the Raging Rocket Lounge later that night to get our drink on. Fortunately, we were kicked out and forced to return home (it's the only bar in town).

Here's the link to the pictures from the ceremony and party:
Desiree and Maison's Wedding Album

Madonna Concert Brings Crazy Fans

2006-07-30T18:47:00.000-04:00

Recently, my friend Desiree, her mom, and her sister Kamika, came to Philly to see Madonna. On the way to the concert Desiree cried. Here are the pics from that really fun visit. As soon as I can, I'll post the pics from Des and Maison's wedding this past weekend.

Desiree's Madonna Visit

Cape Cod - Daaaammmmeeeee!

2006-07-02T23:42:00.000-04:00

Woo hoo! Home from Cape Cod and have a whole bunch of pictures to share, from both my camera and Kristi's. I had an awesome time and hope to see everyone again sometime soon... Next stop is the Firehouse reunion next year!

Okay, here's the important stuff:

The below is hopefully video (and not just a picture) from the recent trip that I took with some friends to Cape Cod. A couple of us created a little synchronized water handstand/cheer routine that we worked, reworked, and performed for a captive audience of beach-goers. My favorite moment in this, other than Rachel's stellar ballerina twirl followed by cheerleader lift, is when I, mid-routine, come out of the water and have no idea where I am. And Juan's jazz-hands.

Also, if you click on this link to my yahoo photo-site you can check out 300 photos from the trip. Feel free to leave comments here with links to your own photos - I'd love a copy of the group shot from Wendy's camera.

Seafood Night at Our House

2006-06-03T19:48:00.000-04:00

Andrea and her creation... or what was left of it.

Kendra, full & demure.

Rachel and Kendra with a big bowl of goodness.

Pinhead Replacement Post (as if one can replace Pinhead)

2006-04-24T19:48:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been awhile since I've done this. Mostly I just need to replace the pinhead picture on my MySpace profile and blogspot lets me host my pics for free. I am that super lame. Even more lame is sitting down at my laptop, checking each of four email accounts, and then wondering what it is I'm supposed to do now. I know I sat down in front of this thing for a reason, and then I remember that it was to read my email. And I didn't get any, unless you count Victoria's Secret. That bitch sends me something just about every other day.
I am also supposed to be doing my homework right now for my hardest class ever. Guess what I'm not doing?

Okay, here's the pinhead replacement pic. It's a menu from a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky. Pretty much representative of my entire experience there.

I aspire, by the way, to the Hallmarks of a Lady blog on this site. I'll never get there, but I can aspire my ass off.

Danger

2005-12-04T01:54:00.000-05:00

This is my friend Rachel. As you can see, she is highly explosive.

For Halloween one year she was a "RabbitWitch". We know this because she has rabbit ears stuck to her pointed hat. I'm betting that if she were to turn around we'd also see a white puffy tail or some cotton balls stuck to her robes. Also, she is wearing a sign on which her identity is clearly stated.
She had an Annie thing too. Check out that ankle length sweater she's wearing. It's orphantastic.

2005-11-25T01:35:00.000-05:00

Having lots of drinks while waiting for dinner at The Plough and the Stars.

And here I've just finished having lots of drinks. I am insane.

Pics for posting

2005-11-25T01:10:00.000-05:00

These are my cats - Sadie (black) and Penny. I am posting them here mostly because I have to put them online so I can put them on my myspace profile. x- A