As promised...

Here is Chester, my beloved little turtle. Isn't he cute? I just added some new dirt/peat moss to his hacienda. But, in usual Chester style, he would rather hide beside the box of new lovely dirt than go in the box and play in it. What can I say? He makes me laugh...

My Pugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you whom have never seen "The Pugs," here are my babies. They live in TN with mi familia and I miss them terribly. Kobe is the older of the two and in this pic has just had a bath. As you can tell, he does not like having baths. Although, we all think he looks like Holy Kobe or the pug version of Mother Teresa in this picture.

And this is little Miko. He's about 1/2 the size of Kobe, but Kobe is a bit of a tank. (Cory and I call him Fatass. Not Fat ass, but Fa-tass. It's a nicer way to say it. ) Oh, little Miko. He likes to bite the bottom of my jeans and hold on while I drag him around the kitchen.

I won't see them again until Christmas time. : ( But I have Chester here to keep me happy. I'll post his picture tomorrow.

-listening to She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5

P.S. I had a cheeseburger from Steak-n-Shake last night and it was so damn good! I can't even tell you!

White Trash Party

Oh, what tangled webs we weave whilst drinking Jack out of the bottle...Here is Ilya, showing off his big guns. And what big guns they were!
Here are our old neighbors Chris and Susan...and me with Boone's Sangria dripping out of my mouth- and not on purpose, mind you.

The other Chris and Susan who looked quite smashing! They won King & King of White Trash. I think it was Chris's mullet that really scored him the points.

The beautiful, hotdog & cornbread muffin making Wendy!

And my white trash hunk of the night, with the hottest t-shirt on!

Friday night's White Trash party was a success! First we had quite a potluck feast: Milwaukee's Best, Boone's out of a paper bag, fried spam, Vienna sausages, cheese curls, fried Bologna sandwiches, just to name a few.....Mmm-mmmm! By the end of the night, all the beer cans and trash were scattered ALL over our backyard, boards had been broken and several letters had been handed out to the men asking them to appear on Springer's next "Are You My Baby's Daddy?" show.

It was quite a night for those of you who missed it. But we'll do it again next year!

-listening to Takes My Pain Away by Jimmy Eat World

Friday at the pre-school while the kids were napping, I spotted little Nicholas- who is my favorite kid- peeking his head out of his make shift tent he had been sleeping in. I headed over and sat down on the floor next to him. He crawled into my lap and as he was giving me a hug he whispered, "You smell like lollipops."

It was the best thing I had heard all week.

-listening to Lover, You Should Have Come Over by Jeff Buckley

Dilemma by David Budbill

I want to be
famous
so I can be
humble
about being
famous.

What good is my
humility
when I am
stuck
in this
obscurity?

Another talent to add to the list...

Miss Smarty Pants here left the garage key in the car leaving me locked outside of the garage. Cory had taken the key off my key ring for Jason and Lindsey. Then on Monday I used it to get into the garage but forgot to attatch it back to my keys. So yesterday as I was leaving for work, and looking for the key amidst my other keys, the visual of the key sitting in the cup holder in my car suddenly hit me and it was such a bad, bad feeling because I had to leave at that moment for work and my options became:

1. Get cash from the ATM and take the train which would make me about an hour and 20 minutes late.
2. Get cash from the ATM and attempt to hail a taxi all the way to work- in Evanston- which would have cost me about $25-30.

or...

3. Break into my garage.

Now we're talking! I took out my baby swiss army knife I keep on me at all times and attempted to pick the lock. No luck. Well, there are two doors into the garage, so I tried the other door and...success! (I couldn't believe it myself.) So..I made it to work and was only about 5 minutes late, and the meeting hadn't even started yet.

I'm such a criminal! A Pre-School Teaching Criminal...What a life!

-listening to Say Hello To Heaven by Temple of the Dog

Keane + Katy

One of the best perks of living in Chicago is going to the best venues for concerts.We had our friends Jason & Lindsey in town over the weekend and last night we went to see Keane at Parkwest. My first time to that venue and let me tell you, besides the lingering bad 80's club feel, the place rocked! We were about 5 feet away from the lead singer. It was almost too intoxicating...

Keane. Was. Amazing. Aaaaamazing. So honest, so sincere, so happy to be playing in Chicago, so happy just to be playing to an audience that loved their music. And they are British, which always tickles my fancy.

And I have to say this once again, there is nothing better than watching someone do what they do best. And the lead singer of Keane was just meant to be on stage singing his heart out...to me. Well, and to all the other fans...but mostly me.

Oh, leave me alone! Can't a girl dream????

-listening to Somewhere Only We Know by... who else, Keane

I came across these this morning...I had jotted them down out of a book of Haiku's when I lived in NYC.


Come windless invader
I am a carnival of
stars a poem of blood


I turn westward in
shadows hoping my river
will cross yours in passing


I have caught fire from
your mouth now you want me to
swallow the ocean


Love between us is
speech hand breath. Loving you is
a long river running


It was nothing big
just no one to put suntan
lotion on my back

How I almost got to see the Cubs win...

So, last night, my friend B unexpectedly got Cubs tickets from her boss who couldn't use them for that night's game. Luckily I was invited! We make a mad dash over to Wrigley Field just in time to get some beer before we sit down. I'm juggling money and my bag of peanuts and my ID, and as I walk away with my beer, I get maybe 20 feet away and realize my ticket is not in my hand anymore. I was carrying it with the peanuts, and now... all I had was peanuts. So I frantically check all my pockets and my purse..nothing. I'm in complete denial that its happening because we were so close to sitting down.

We retrace my steps back to the beer concession stand...nothing. Totally bummed out, we decide to go to our seats anyway and hope hope hope an usher person isn't there checking ticket stubs. But, then, as we're walking over, this lady runs up to me and says, "Were you the one who lost a ticket?" I half scream, "YES!!!" She then produces a ticket and asks, "Is this it?" I look at it and sure enough...So I give her a big hug and say, "Thank you so much!" She goes on to tell us how she saw a man pick up the ticket and proceed to keep it and that she marched right up to him and told him off for trying to do that. Then took the ticket from him and found me.

Talk about your good Samaritan! God was smiling on me last night! Well, 1/2 smiling...

We get to our seats and they are amazing! My friend's boss is a lawyer, so we really lucked out. We were about 50ft. away from homeplate to our right and the pitchers mound to our left. A-maze-ing. I of course get some cotton candy. (Of course.) And I am ashamed to say that minus 2 bites I gave to B, I ate the WHOLE BAG! B said she's gonna start calling me Contessa Cotton Candy.

So, the game is pretty slooooooooooow. The Pirates have been up 2-0 the whole time. So we decide if the Cubs don't score by the end of the 7th inning, we'll just leave to beat the crowds. Sure enough, they don't score, so we, and several other 100 people who had the same idea, get up and leave.

Well, I get home, grab a beer from the fridge and some popcorn and decide to watch a little TV. I turn on the tube and see that they are showing highlights from the game! Cool! Then to my horror, I realize they aren't showing highlights...the game is still going on!!!! The Cubs came back! The score is now 2-2 and they are in the 11th inning! I can't believe it!! Here this amazing game is going on that I was JUST AT, and could be watching it IN PERSON, but noooooooooo, we wanted to beat the crowds, and now I'm left to watch it at home on the stupid TV.

Then, to add salt to the wound, the Cubs win with this great homerun by Cory Patterson. The crowd is going crazy! And I, am so not cool sitting alone on my couch. It totally sucked. Never again will I leave a game early. OH SOMEONE JUST SHOOT ME IN THE NOSE!!!!!!

-listening to A Decade Under The Influence ("I've Got A Bad Feeling About This") by Taking Back Sunday

The Boza Book Club. Members:1

So, I got 3 books read in the lovely month of August.

Mort by Terry Pratchett
This book was recommended by a dear friend of mine, so I read it, no questions asked. This type of suedo- sci-fi book was definitely not the type I usually read, but I reeeeeeeeeeally liked it. Pratchett, with his British sense of humor, is a superb writer. And this book was part of a whole series, which is exciting, as there is more to read!

Good Poems selected and introduced by Garrison Keillor
What a gem. My best friend gave this to me and I just adored it. I started reading it about 2 months ago and just left it around the house so I could read from it every few days. There are about 300 poems and it was a great selection that I recommend to any poetry lovers out there.

The Book of Ruth by Jane Hamilton
I spotted an autographed copy of this book at the Brown Elephant and couldn't resist. And yeah, it's another one of Oprah's Book Club selections, but I was intrigued just by reading the back of the book, so I thought, why not give it a try. It wasn't a page turner, but it really was a charming book with a very interesting storyline and a very unexpected and fascinating ending.

Anyone have any good book recommendations? I'm always on the lookout for a great book to read. And for good NY style pizza...

The Three Goals- David Budbill

The first goal is to see the thing itself
in and for itself, to see it simply and clearly
for what it is.
No symbolism, please.

The second goal is to see each individual thing
as unified, as one, with all other
ten thousand things.
In this regard, a little wine helps a lot.

The third goal is to grasp the first and the second goals,
to see the universal and particular,
simultaneously.
regarding this one, call me when you get it.

No one can make me go to work!!!!!!!!!

I'm sitting here with Chester, feeling a little bit disconnected with my life. I really want to look over into my dining room and see a big hot tub beckon to me. But I have a sneaking suspicion...that ain't happenin'.

Speaking of bizarre good deeds, I saved a lady bug yesterday from CERTAIN death. I walked out my front door and noticed a cobweb in the corner of the window and low and behold, a lady bug was caught up and about to be eaten by a little spider. I know that's just how nature works, but it just wasn't going over with me. So I snapped up the little lady bug and set it free and then scolded the spider for attempting to eat it! I know he heard me.

Speaking of birthdays, we all celebrated my dear Wendy's birthday last night. We feasted on Ethiopian food, drank fine spirits, ate homemade birthday cake-compliments of yours truly, Chef Boza, and I even broke out the baby accordion. It was a fun fun night. Well, it's always a fun night if someone breaks out the baby accordion.

Speaking of breakfast, it's time for mine. I'm thinking...pizza!

-listening to Blame It On The Rain by Milli Vanilli

P.S. I just did a spell check and it was suggested I replace ain't with anita. Wow...thank you.

Labor Day Weekend

What a whirl, what a whirl...

I've had quite a weekend: good things, bad things, sexy things...too many things to list.

A few nights ago I saw Jimmy Eat World, which had to have been the highlight of my weekend. He. Was. Amazing. And so sexy. I had no idea! It was my first time seeing them play live. Granted, I was deaf the next day, but permanent ear drum damage was such a small price to pay and I would pay it again.

Then on Saturday night, Cory and I made it out to Ravinia, which is just so beautiful, to see my man, Michael Cerveris. Talk about talent. He has no limit, he just leaves me speechless. I've realized though that I am not a Sondhiem fan...not in the least. The show was a bit on the boring side but that didn't even matter because I was too busy watching Michael on stage. Luckily for me, he was the lead.

Other than that, I've just been enjoying myself..walking to the beach, making smoothies, bar-b-q-ing with friends, scouting out a new Irish Pub we found in Lincoln Square, missing important phone calls from Japan, going to see the movie Wicker Park, praying that my family in Florida won't get blown away by hurricane Frances, you know, the usual.

And it would have been a grand weekend, except I received a call letting me know that my friend's father had just died. And suddenly. It kind of added this dark color to everything I did and everywhere I went. I just kept thinking, here I am having a good time, and my friend is getting ready to go bury her dad. My friend, who is younger than me, who was planning on seeing her dad for Labor Day. It was just such a punch in the stomach.

I called my dad shortly after I got the phone call just to tell him I love him. He told me not to worry, that he is still alive and kicking. Yeah, I thought, but so was her dad...

I hate that life is so uncertain. Hate it, hate it, hate it! We just never know what's in store.

I'm hoping it's good things.

-listening to Jesus Walks by Kanye West

Saturday Night in Springfield

For months now, we girls have been secretly planning a burlesque dance to do for Dan's birthday. For awhile nobody knew..not a soul. Then, we each broke down and had to tell our husbands for various and needed reasons. But it was to be a surprise for Dan. (Who is the husband of Marla, the lovely lady on the far right.) And a surprise it was!

The 5 of us did a routine to Beyonce's Naughty Girl song. It was quite a hit. We performed at a club in Springfield in front of many, many more people than we thought we would, including a lot of parents, which made it quite interesting. But it went great! Dan loved it. Although, what guy wouldn't love 5 "Naughty Girls" dancing for him in fishnets, tiny skirts and bustiers?

Here is myself, Lindsey, Theresa and Marla later on in the night. (Four out of the 5 naughty girls.)


Here is the birthday boy in black- (and no, that isn't a shiny, leather shirt he's wearing, that's 100% sweat. And I'm not kidding.) With him is Trever, the lead singer of Flick.

Cory and Dan. I think I took this picture in the dark, so not too shabby, eh?

Overall, the night was amazing. It seemed like old times...good times. So many of our old friends had come in from out of state, it was as if no one had ever left. All the old bands got together and performed which we hadn't seen in years. It seemed to be something everyone needed... familiarity, being able to step back into the shoes of a former life and enjoying it one last time. It was magical in a sense and dare I say even a bit spiritual at times. Who knew you could find God at a smoke filled dirty club after just finishing a burlseque dance? Life is great like that.

-listening to Feels Like I'm Seventeen by Annie Lenox

Rabbit Rabbit

Sorry I don't have the pic's up yet. I don't mean to be a tease. Cory had to take the laptop I use to work yesterday so I was computer-less. Hopefully I'll have time later tonight to get them posted, along with all the details from our fabulous weekend! It was a once in a lifetime celebration, let me tell you, with a burlesque dance to boot! (Yours truly was in on that little number- but more later!)

Now I have to go to work to see all my kids!

Happy September 1st!

-listening to Every Breath You Take by The Police