fire! fire! hehehehehehehe. fire! fire!

ah, and the nights become still again, though the smell of fire and gasoline linger on.

some weekend thoughts:

• still need to post about rotary cutters for bethie
• ant and i were off all wonderful weekend +2 days, we barely left the house at all
• became seriously addicted to smallville, finished season 1, started season 2. i don't think we'd do well with cable - we are very instant gratification and would be so irritated at having to wait a week to see the next episode. let's just say we watched 10 hours in one day.
• discovered huge whitefly infestation in my garden. argh! i feel my skills as a gardener abating and it makes me sad. i really want to keep my garden as organic as possible and neem oil will supposedly do the trick. the crummy thing is that it smells *horrible* and apparently shouldn't touch the skin. oops! if this doesn't work, i may switch to the more skin- and smell-friendly castille soap and as a last last resort, i will actually buy bugs. online.
• 4th of july get together at star & david's new house. so big and lovely! 2 deliciously strong cosmos, made by star herself. expensive fireworks being set off by her neighbors. on our side: firecrackers being thrown onto lit gasoline on the sidewalk - huge flaming excitement! though not when too close to star's new car.
• tree climbing w/ jen & dave. anthony caught me on the way down. jen found tree bits in her underpants for the next 2 hours.

i just want perfection, damnit!

ok, i realize i'm not so good at this re-touching photos thing. i fiddle and fiddle and can't get them to look *just* the way i want. my film scanner makes my b&w photos look... a little wonky. and i can't figure it out!!

maybe i'll ask my photo guy how he gets the prints to look so good.... *sigh*

or maybe i just need to use a simple program instead of photoshop cs. hmmm...

on with the show!

photos from waay back yonder when we went to albuquerque:

anthony, looking pensive (oops, no cropping).


damn, he's so adorable! chomp!


aquarium... somewhere...?


flowers near one of the museums. in fact, this is the same tree.


the old hooker motel near ramon & alexis' house.


inside the museum of natural history


ramon, in his true form.

reflections on birmingham

2 hours and 18 photos later...........

i still desire a digital camera. there has GOT to be a better way than uploading and removing dust specks like a freak. as anthony would say, a "'wizard' moment."

i am renewed in an interest in taking photographs, but i really abhor the process at present.

here are some of the best:




stryder


sophie


sophie's rather easily scared


from the children's room at michie's church


me & mich (my hair was so short!)

michie & her boy, scott

the attack


the apology


the adorable couple

girlfriend sweatshop weekend wonders

sewing, relaxation, spumanti, tomatoes, pasta, chocolate, quilting, rotary cutters, fabric heaven.... that's how i'd describe my past weekend.

gainesville is always the best location for girlfriend sweatshop city-wide. mainly because meaghan has her own house and it's pretty big. she's got a crapload of cutting mats, a second sewing machine, a huge quilting table on wheels, extraneous craft supplies, craft knowledge and craft know-how.

unfortunately, rachel couldn't make it, so it was me, erika, virginia and meaghan. oh, and craig for about a half-day. that boy will go into his job at night and work until 12 am! "wtf?!" as erika would declare, in her internet-acronym-loving way.

erika and i drove in on thursday night (i called out of work on friday - mwahahahaha) and the relaxation and eating commenced. friday was shopping day in which each of us spent anywhere from $50 to $130 on incredible fabric. i learned what "fat quarters" were (as opposed to "long quarters") and quickly became obsessed. little bits of fabric! perfect for little bags! it was only afterwards that meaghan explained that by only buying fat quarters, you often pay as much as $10/yd for fabric. oops!

seriously, i am so in love w/ my fabric. hopefully i'll have pictures soon, i dropped off 3 rolls at max color and will drop off more when i pick them up. let me go count how many i have... only 5. that's reassuring.

i could go on and on about this lovely lovely fantastico weekend, but i shan't bore you with all the details. here's a truncated list:

• meaghan learned me on how to correctly use my rotary mat & cutter
• erika and virginia made some beautiful quilts in but a single weekend
• we played three games of celebrity
• we gave ourselves team names at first - bras vs. skins
• you can only guess at what that means
• 4 girls? no boys? OH yeah
• virginia and i won the last game, even after i had a few shots of amaretto goodness to console the fact that i kind of (really) suck at guessing (but i totally rock at giving clues)
• i got to eat delicious food and peach daquiris
  
• insanely good homemade ice cream at sweet dreams (spicy mayan chocolate?! yum!)
• i am in love w/ erika's email she sent pre-gfss-citywide:
• Holy Fuck. I don't check my email for a week and am flooded with a melange (I don't really know if this is the right word, but it sounds good) of sewing-jargon.
  I am so excited about learning to quilt! My life-long dream for nigh three years! Although I must say Meaghan, I'm a little puzzled why you bothered to send that last email to me, too. I mean for the love of god, do you really think I am capable of picking out fabric on my own? You should have sent me a seperate email saying: "Dearest Erika (my favorite), I will walk you through every part of the quilting process baby-step style. I will have with me several elixers to calm your addled brain. Fear not, my love. Sincerely, Your Biggest Fan, Meaghan". Furthermore, I was a little worried by the words you used to describe quilting, i.e.: "time" and "work". I hope you were just kidding about that.
  Also, here's a heads up: if there's time, I'm going to trick you into "helping" me make a skirt and showing me how to hem some pants. Just so you know. You really can't refuse me, I'm just too cute.
  Love,
  e
  P.S. - Steak, veal, and ground beef sound great to me. In fact, why stop with just one type of meat? I find it's ofttimes better to mix 2 or more meats together per meal. The more dead animals the better, I always say! Meaghan: if you need some more meat, I have a few hours today I could go round us up some wild pig-a-lets with my bb gun down by the crick.
  P.P.S. - I'll be there Thursday around 7 or 8!
  P.P.P.S - I will steal my mother's sewing machine.
• and i daresay she's been a vegetarian since the tender age of 3

i can't even explain how heavenly the weekend was.

a great end. since this will be one of the last gfss weekends with virginia, who is soon to be moving to england. and erika will be living in italy for a few weeks, as well.

at least i was awash in girly estrogen happiness. until i got my period on the 21st.

let's just say i am highly considering continuous contraception.

anyways. shower now. then perhaps cleaning and sleep. alcohol soothes all stresses about classwork and assignments. why are motivation and passion so hard to come by? regarding work and your job, of course. *sigh*

que sera, sera.

tit's boyfriend rocks

this one is for tits and her boyfriend:

chaff

overheard today at work:

"so, you know. it's separatin' the wheat from the.. the. th. the not-wheat."

in the words of madge: "Whaaaa"

i just sliced my finger w/ my really sharp knife. i am typing w/ one hand.

i almost put up a photo, but thought better of grossing anyone out.

it won't stop bleeding! argh.