Hellatious

While catching up on Sass Attack's blog in Google reader, I stumbled upon the mention of a blogging contest... Contest? What? My ears eyes perked up and read further ....

Apparently, there are not one, but THREE bloggers (Sass Attack, Hotfessional,And The Pursuit of Happiness) hosting this contest... which means THREE winners.

The contest..... Travel Hell: Sometimes Getting There Sucks.


I can do this. I can totally do this. But can I win? Who knows... but at least it gives me excuse to brag reminisce about my time in China.


I look back on our time in China with fond memories. Memories of noodles, tofu, friends, and baijiu. Sometimes I forget just how painful many of our journeys through that large, Red country were for me- like that time I peed on my face, or had my wallet stolen, or used a mint maxi pad instead of a regular one (good one, that story.. remind me to tell it one day). All of the most memorable stories from those days involved pain. The most painful? Our trip to Songpan.

Our plan was to ride a bus eight hours to the northwestern town of Songpan. There, we'd book a four-day horse trek into the mountains with some Tibetan tour guides.

We got there in one piece and booked the trek.

I was slightly nervous, as I'd never before ridden a horse (let alone for FOUR DAYS in th MOUNTAINS OF CHINA!). For the most part, I tried to keep my nervousness to myself. I was soon going to find out that riding the horse was going to be the easy part of all.

The next four days involved a mixture of the flu, dehydration, and altitude sickness... all while trying to ride a horse up 14,000 feet and then hike back down on foot. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy camper, but I survived.



After a long four days of eating sludgy gruel, careening down a muddy mountainside in a hail storm with a tiny man pulling me ahead, and several bouts of nausea that almost forced me to stay an extra day in the mountains to gather my strength..... all I wanted was a hot shower and some good food.

Once safely back in the town of Songpan, we all headed to the public showers to rinse off four days of dirt under cold water. Our budget accommodations didn't have showers. In fact, the bathroom at our hostel was outside and consisted of a stuccoed wall with holes cut in the cement floor. You had to squat over the rectangular holes where the waste fell about 3-4 feet below. Looking closely, you could see (and hear) thousands (millions?) of maggots slithering around.

We left the next day, on an early morning bus. We tore down the switchbacks and steep grades like we were in some Formula 1 race care. The bus drivers in China have yet to figure out that buses do not, in fact, corner as well as race cars. Not one hour into the ride at top speed with a dozen smokers on board, I was hanging out the window yakking to my hearts content. Thankfully, after an hour into this never ending bout of motion sickness, the bus came to a mysterious halt. Finally, I was granted a break from my uncontrollable urges to dry heave.



Eventually, we learned exactly WHY the bus had stopped. There had been a landslide up ahead on the road. We were only a few cars back from the slide, so we hopped out to take a closer look. It turned out to be a pretty big landslide - across the width of the road, with no way around.



We sat for FIVE hours as two, big-yellow-road-clearing-machines scooped up dirt, pushed it off the edge of the mountain, scooped up dirt, pushed it off the edge of the mountain, scooped up dirt.......




We just so happened to be in a "town" with about four little buildings in it. Not much, but we were able to buy out their entire stock of instant noodles to tide us over while we waited. When nature called, instead of trying to find a secluded place to do my business... I had my friend C asking the locals if they had a bathroom we could use. They ushered us over to a dilapidated pig pen and urged us to go inside. Through a few tattered, wood railings, I stumbled upon a makeshift closet. One of the walls to this closet was actual a fence to the pig area. A pig area with PIGS inside. Big. Fat. Pigs. On the floor were two broken pieces of concrete and in between those.... you guessed it... a hole sliding down to God only knows where. Quite possibly, the Worst. Bathroom. Ever. ...And I took a picture of it. Go figure.

After the landslide was cleared and we were back on the bus and moving at a regular pace down a regular, straight road ... all was right with the world again.

To this day, when I tell people about our trek, I find myself reliving this Epic Journey Through the Mountains of Sichuan with very little recollection of the pain and whole lot of pride because I Peed in that Toilet. Little do most people know (except for the 8 close friends on that trek), that the whole experience was a living hell for me (well, and for those who had to travel with me).

Game On

I've totally flip-flopped again.

Looks as if I'm back on the Blogher '08 Boat.

See ya in July I suppose....

And to those of you who said I could be glued to your side.... you may soon regret ever offering up such naive bits of moral support. You severely underestimate my neediness.

Muahahaha.

Just kidding... as I do have a husband (who shall be in attendance at cocktail parties, unless I here from others how uncool that might be) and other friends in SF to fall back on if I waste $250 and crap out of this Blogher thing ... all thanks to the abuse the popular kids dealt me in high school.

PS... I totally deserve an award for being the whiniest brat in the blogosphere.

Weekly Photo Challenge?

So I was thinking....

How many of you guys would participate in a weekly photo challenge? Many of you may have done something like this in the past, or are currently doing this... I know I've done this before.

Here is how it will work...

First, we'll go through a few basic shots like with flash, with out (baby stuff.. I know), macro (close-up), portraits (shots of people) etc.

From there, I'll start with other things like different angles and themes. Or something like that. Once we get going... I'll take suggestions from you guys and we can go from there. I want it to be very much a community event.

You'll be able to post a comment on this site with a link to your post with the weekly photo challenge picture. Then we can all mosey over here or there and comment on the different shots.

Eventually, I'd like to all offer some manual setting challenges for those of you new or learning about SLRs. But hey, I'm still learning too... so if you have an idea about different challenges... feel free to send it to me at:

emily(at)emilypie(dot)com

What do you say? Are you in?

Blondes Do it Right

My husband LOVES meatloaf... and when I say LOVE, I mean an emotion that is borderline abnormal. On any given day, he's either craving Mexican food (bleh) or meatloaf (double bleh).

A long, long time ago (back during that hellatious month known as NaBloPoMo) Unnaturally Blonde posted about a dinner her Hubs made. He had found a new meatloaf recipe to try and even baked it in the shape of a Christmas tree for her.

I NEEDED to get my hands on that recipe... like YESTERDAY. I grew up with a pretty tasty meatloaf my mom made, and I've sampled countless other recipes, but have never really found one where I wasn't forcing myself to like it. Instead, I've lasted four years with only making meatloaf for my husband a total of three times. Once, when we were first dating and I was still trying to Woo him with my domestic-abilities (ha. fooled him didn't I?). The second time I made it we were living in China and I was forced to use only ground pork because for some reason we could never find ground beef. The meatloaf turned out greasy and undercooked ... and wound up in the trash. And the third time ... well I'm not exactly sure. Obviously, it wasn't that memorable.

I emailed N and she was quick to send me the recipe. I was grateful and told her I'd make it that weekend. Lie. I never made it. I mean, I had every intention of making it, I just never got around to it - until last night anyway.

Now, I must admit. When I first read through the recipe I thought, "This doesn't look like anything special." I had my doubts. That may have even played a part in my procrastinating.

Last night, I sucked it up and went to work. That was the EASIEST, real meal I've prepared in a long time. It made my husband's week and he hadn't even tasted it yet. Once he had tasted the first bite, he totally forgot about all the whining and misery I put him through last week! He even said it was the best meatloaf he's ever had. Yeah baby. The BEST.

Honestly.... it was pretty damn good. So good in fact, that we ate the entire loaf.

The Recipe:

1 lb. ground beef
1 tbsp. ketchup
3 cloves garlic (finely chopped) OR I like to use minced (makes things much easier)
1 1/2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. olive oil
1 egg
2 cups Italian style bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl. By hand, mix all ingredients until well blended. Shape meatloaf into desired shape, drizzle oil over top and rub by hand.

Apparently, you can bake a myriad of ways, depending on your oven. What I did was bake it for 35 minutes at 350°F in my ghetto-fabulous, electric, apartment oven. Then I took it out and poured My Own Little Concoction over the top, and baked it again for about 8 minutes.

The Recipe for My Own Little Concoction:

1 part ketchup
1 part mustard
a bit of brown sugar (maybe 1 tbsp. or more)
2 dashes of garlic powder
1 tsp. soy sauce

Mmmmmmm.

Confessions of Melodramatic Twenty-Something Suffering from Minor Social Anxiety Disorder

The countdown to get the lower priced tix for the 2008 Blogher conference in SF is ticking away and I've been putting off registering.



This weekend, I decided (finally) that after all the talk, excitement, and permission to use graphics for blog-cards .... I'm not going to Blogher. (Big let down, I know. I'm sure there's like.. well.. ONE person who even had any semi-intentions of running into me there.)



Which brings me to my reason for not attending... I don't feel like spending the money on something like that when it is almost guaranteed that I'd freak out at Blogher. I don't really know anyone going to this thing. I don't have anyone to go with me either... you know someone that I know well enough that it isn't a big deal if I plan on staying glued to their side if I don't figure out how to mingle and all that.



I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to social situations. I'd get all nervous before hand, cry and proclaim that I have ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING TO WEAR. This fit is usually followed by an adamant, "I'm Not Going!" and a foot stomp. Que the rolling of the eyes by my husband and the, "I told you so." Or even the, "You always get like this, but you always have fun."



So... in order to avoid any of this drama behind the scenes, oh yes and in order to avoid and awkwardly drunken moments when I inevitably turn to booze to calm my nerves and loosen up .... I'm going to sit this year's conference out.



As much as I'd love to go and GET TO KNOW many new bloggers... and listen to all of the fabulous speakers and take loads of pictures of other DSLR users and bloggers.... I don't think I'm an established enough blogger to attend this year.


Who knows, maybe next year?



Though I am only 4 hours from SF... and could always pop in for a drink .........

Nestlé Toulouse

*Kudos to those of you who get the title reference.

I must say, out of ALL of the different desserts I've had, (in all my 26 years) chocolate chip cookies would still have to be my favorite dessert.

I'm not talking fancy-schmancy chocolate chip cookies either. The ones I crave and love come from the simple recipe on the the back of the Nestle Tollhouse Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips bag.

The best part about making cookies.... is of course the dough! (PS... totally tried to find a non-pornariffic shot of me licking the beater... this was the best I could do... sorry. Before this, I had no idea licking something as innocent as cookie dough off of a beater could look so graphic.)

As usual, whenever I'm in the kitchen (regardless of the reason) I have company.....



...just waiting for a tasty morsel to fall on the floor to then be gobbled up with out so much as a single sniff or chew. The floor is of course, his turf. Or so he thinks.

Vist from the Squidge-Meister

M, C and Miss S paid us a visit yesterday. My husband had not seen Miss S since she was born, and was itching to get in some baby time. I on the other hand, got to see her last week at work .. so ha.

I didn't have my camera out for long (there were babies to be held!) ... but I did manage to get a few pictures of her.

From what I can tell from our visits with her... she's a baby. She cries when she's hungry or when you are changing her, but if there isn't anything wrong, she's happy and alert, or she falls asleep.

This crying picture was taken just before feeding time and just after a diaper change... but doesn't she look so cute all pissed off like that? I love it ...




And being all sweet with her Daddy...

Mommy, bouncing her up & down, Miss S really seems to like that...

*sigh* I'm in love.

Cheeky

Dog cheekage, originally uploaded by EmilyPie.

Because it is Friday, and I'm too sick to go out to our friend's improv show.... more cheering up for all.....

Say hello to T's butt.

The cutest little doggy butt cheeks in the world.

Uplift Me

A change of topic ya'll .... hearing about everyone's husband who either doesn't plan for special days or who is perfect in every way is really getting me down ;)

When we returned from Texas on Sunday (after C's in-laws stayed at our place while we were gone), I started looking at my apartment through our guest's eyes. I don't know why, but I tend to do this when ever we have company, or whenever someone new checks out my picture site or blog... I think I like to see how our life looks to someone else.

In our bathroom, I noticed a pregnancy test in our medicine cabinet... it was wrapped and in the box, not used. Whoops. Immediately I felt guilty, but then... why not? We are married. But to clarify, I only took the test because 8 months AFTER getting my IUD (that could POSSIBLE stop my periods all together but until now, never changed a thing) my period has finally decided to stop. I took the test just to make sure.

This got me thinking about what other odd things I had in there that might embarrass me a bit. Thankfully, besides a few prescription bottles made out for the dogs, and some nasal spray, I think we were ok.

This is where you come in .... If I were to sneak a peek in YOUR medicine cabinet right now, what is the most embarrassing thing I'd find?

Come on ... we are all friends here......

Let Down

I hesitated a bit before posting this in The Land of Perfect Husbands. But then I thought, surely even in The Land of Perfect Husbands there must be some disappointment lurking behind the love notes and fresh baked cookies....surely.

As you know, yesterday was my birthday... a BIG thank you too for all of your birthday wishes. For the past month, I've had a wish list which I've brought up on numerous occasions. The items on that list range from cheap to not-so cheap... so he had options. Lots of options.

The night before my birthday I may have nagged a bit about my present. I thought for sure THIS TIME he'd thought ahead and I'd have my present on my birthday, instead of the talk of, "Oh this will be your present." after a purchase has been made or something else less formal.

The day of came...and I got an email asking if it was ok that my present was late. OK. So maybe he ordered and it just hasn't arrived yet. So I said sure, as long as he told me what it was... since it WAS my birthday and all.

"Oh, I was thinking about getting you this, but the store doesn't have it and if I order it online it could take a week to get here. Or you could get this ..."

What? So I guess he didn't think ahead. Ugh. I had some how gotten my hopes up and expected, obviously, too much.

Ok, no gift is necessary. Don't worry about it. We'll just go to dinner and then to the movie this weekend.

Another snag... apparently he had forgotten about which movie I wanted to see exactly .... 27 Dresses (even though I hear it isn't all that).

What? He doesn't want to see that movie? Now I had really had it. I got all upset and said don't worry about anything besides dinner. I'd see the movie some other time with someone else or when it came out to rent. *sigh*

...which of course meant that what really came out was something like, "Ugh. Fine. I'll just see it by MYSELF then. Happy Birthday to me."

I spent the rest of the day mopey and then my not-quite-a-cold-sickness started to develop into something nasty.

Out went the text messages canceling dinner because I was feeling crappy - fifty percent depressed and fifty percent sick. I went home and just knew that there was going to be a more than willing to make it up to me husband waiting with flowers.

Predictable... I came home to just that, and an extra thing of flowers just to sweeten the deal. But I wasn't having it. My birthday had succeeded again in depressing me... much like our anniversary and most valentine's days. There is reason I say I don't celebrate things, because once I do get it in my head that we are going to celebrate, my mind starts thinking of all of things that could be done, and when that doesn't happen.... I get let down. When I get let down, I get into a funk. I get all depressed and cry, and just want to sleep.

Looking back, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal ... but somehow, even though my over all mood is happy... I still get a wee bit sad thinking about my birthday.

If it were up to me... there wouldn't be any of these "special days" because I don't know how to handle them. My husband is more than great on all of the non-special days.... he just doesn't EXCELL at the special days.... then again, neither do I.

The Birthday that Took the Cake

Three years ago today, B and I were in the middle of a 6 week backpacking extravaganza in South East Asia. At that point in our trip, we were in Cambodia.

Now let me preface this by saying that no matter how horrible I describe our trip to Cambodia, I'd definitely go back. We missed out on so many things and were held back by a budget of like $35 a day ... for TWO people. And that the pictures you see on my site are not mine, and if you click the pictures, you'll be taken to the page where I yanked them from ...

Before traveling through SE Asia, we had spent 6 months living and working in China (along with M&C). China was a relatively difficult country to travel through as most people didn't speak much English if you weren't in a big city (and most of the time we weren't), they tend to see dirt in a completely different light that us Westerners, and well, there is no such thing as a line.

At the start of our 6 weeks in SE Asia, B and I experienced only easy traveling: Guangzhou, China - where the air was warm and clean and we saw many Americans who were on the obligatory leg through to Guangzhou to finalize their adoption on the Chinese end. Then it was on to Hong Kong, where almost everyone spoke English and their was amazing shopping to be had (if you weren't on a budget of $35 a day that is). To be fair, Hong Kong wasn't all glorious... there were those horrible accommodations ... you remember B, M&C ... the dilapidated high rise building referred to as "Chungking Mansions". Yikes. B&I had so many cockroaches in our room, that one took up residence in B's bag for the rest of the journey, and I slept with tissues in my ears for fear of them nesting in my head! (Thanks Broke Down Place) Finally, there was Thailand....

Thailand. Thailand is a wonderful, backpacker's paradise. In Thailand, on a budget of $35 a day... we lived like kings. There were plenty of banana pancakes, beach bungalows, fresh fruit, faux designer sunglasses and fisherman's pants to be had. I'll save that for another entry though.

We left for Siem Reap, Cambodia via a bus in Bangkok. That was start of all of the Cambodian mayhem we experienced. We were scammed. We rode in a fabulous tourist bus from Bangkok to the board. Once in Cambodia (which was a totally different feeling than Thailand), we were broken apart into smaller groups and sold off to (unbeknownst to us until later) different guest houses. We then took a much longer than needed, and much bumpier than necessary route to Siem Reap. That was by far the worst bus ride I have EVER been on. That was five hours of bumps that were so hard and frequent that they slowly rattled the bus windows down. The driver told us to make sure the windows stayed up, or they'd break. The road was a dirt one, through a few villages. These villages knew to that foreigners were coming through and when the bus made a planned stop (for a fee, I'm sure) at these villages, the bus was swarmed with children's hands. The hands were pawing at the windows and the children were begging and touting in broken English. The 10 passengers on our bus just looked at one another and hoped that the bus would start up again.

Once in Siem Reap, the bus stopped at the apportioned guest house after dark. We were greeted by burly, intimidating Cambodian men who warned us of the dangers that lurked in the dark streets of Siem Reap at this time of night. A few seasoned, traveling lone men just pushed aside with their packs on their back and proceeded to walk down the streets hailing for tuk tuks as the burly men shouted warnings at them.


The rest of us lacked the balls to stand up to these men, and well, quite frankly we were tired and the guest house was clean and cheap.

The next few days were filled with Tuk-Tuk rides through Angkor Wat, long, hot and sweaty walks through the ancient ruins, and a few loaves of fresh baked bread.

We left Siem Reap on the morning of my 23rd birthday. We planned to take the popular, five hour speed boat ride from Siem Reap to the capital, Phonm Penh. The bus ride through to the Siem Reap harbor was filled with views of poverty at a level I've neither experienced first hand nor seen up close. This was a level of poverty I only knew about through National Geographic. The road was littered with 8' x 8' wooden shacks on stilts. Each shack was home to a family of at least four, and there were dozens of naked children running about their muddy yards covered in trash. It is so hard to believe in an area with more than hundreds of thousands of tourists a year and dozens of five star hotels, that poverty could exist on such an extreme level. That was a real eye opener for me ..More so than any trip to the Mexican border or a few flips through a magazine could do for me.

Flickr member Paul248's picture

The speed boat was hardly what I'd refer to as a speed boat. It held about a hundred passengers - half crammed into and tight, exhaust laden space inside, and the other half (including us) were jammed onto sloped roof of the boat. There, we baked in the hot, unforgiving Cambodian sun for five long hours.

Funny enough, this pictures was actually stolen from someone B and I actually know's Flickr site. Dan Washburn is a writer who lives in Shanghai with his wife Bliss and their dog Ozzie. B and I were lucky enough to host him in our apartment in China during The Trip 2004


At some point along that boat ride, B decided to snap a few pictures of some passing floating villages and fishing boats. Soon after came the frightening sounds of clunk, clunk, PLOP, splash. These were then followed by an ambiguous, "Oh no." Not, "Oh SHIT!" or even "Crap!!!" Just a quiet, "oh no." from B. I looked over at him and got confirmation after asking, "Was that our camera?"

Yep. The digital camera along with a more than half-full 512mb memory card with pictures from our trip from Guangzhou to that moment when the river swallowed my pride and joy.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I don't travel for the enjoyment of it. I travel for the pictures (and the food.. but the pictures are what we are focusing on here). ANGKOR WAT PICTURES. Angkor Wat is a place that I may never visit again.

Needless to say, we were both upset. So upset in fact, that we couldn't bare to continue with this trip with out pictures that we flew to Bangkok THAT night so we could buy a new camera. So much for our budget.

Up until that point, we had been eating street food and drinking cheap beer for the duration of the trip, but that night, the night f my birthday that was ruined after B dropped all of our pictures and our camera in the river, that night I got to eat a fancy airplane meal of fish and white wine.

Eventually, we purchased a new point and shoot and camera and continued our trip with out missing a beat. But, being the grudge holding person I am, I don't think a moment went by that year when I didn't remind poor B about that loss.

Today, three years later, I think I'm finally over it ;) I understand that it was an accident and that he was just as hurt as I was by the loss of the camera and all of our pictures. He's made up for it in more ways than I can count... but I still think I'm entitled to another trip to SE Asia so I can get my pictures back. So, maybe I'm not entirely over it....

and Everyone is LOOKING AT ME

This week, I belong to the "Sorry Husband, but You Can Drive the Two-Wheel Drive Vehicle Today" club. We don't have a lot of snow, but there is a chance for snow every day. We also live in a rather hilly section of town and I've witnessed several folks in two-wheel drive vehicles try to make it up our hill all The Little Camry That Could (if only it had chains on or studded tires) like, only to fail and leave their car parked on the side of the road after their friend/spouse in a snazzy all wheel drive/4WD vehicle can come rescue them. Keep in mind, this is only with some ice. You throw snow into the mix and people are running into each other and all chaos has broke loose in NW MyTown, USA.

Since I am driving the Subaru this week, that means that I have to use the spare set of keys because hubby's work keys are on the real set and it is far too much trouble to swap all that shit out. Sounds fine and dandy... except we have to remember not to enable the alarm and to just manually lock the car if we (or HUBBY) drives it the evening before I go to work the next day. (See where I'm going?)

The spare set doesn't have a working key-less-entry-alarm-remote-thingy. Fine fine. I can do old school.

Except this morning, when I went to unlock the car door, WOOOWOOOOWOOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOO happened. I kept my calm. Got into the car and put the keys in the ignition, foot on the clutch and tried to turn it over and disable the alarm. Nope. Not having it. Suby don't play that.

Then the tears started rolling down my face. I was crying quite uncontrollably... the kind where you hyperventilate and become a slobbery mess. The kind when people walk by and see someone like that they are all, "Thankfully I can keep my shit together when I cry. Unlike THAT."

I was so upset that my husband Wasn't. Thinking. Last. Night. That he could just walk away after hearing "Chirp Chirp" and leave me to this embarrassingly loud and obnoxious fate. How Could He? Out came the phone, and in all my furry I dialed.... he picked up.... then I pounced.

"How could you leave me like this?! All alone with the WOOWOOWOOWOOWOOWOO and no remote to turn it off! It is so early and EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT ME!"

and By Golly if I didn't hit that touch screen with all my might to end that call because, That'll Show Him.

The next five minutes were a series of sobs, phone calls, and down right bitchiness that I don't care to relive just this moment.

Eventually, the alarm stopped on its own. I went inside and am now waiting on my husband to show up from 45 minutes away to "chirp chirp" his little remote thingy. I'm sure on the 45 minute trip he's pondering just why he married That Wench of a Woman who can't keep her cool in a situation that is obviously not an emergency.

Holding Our Breath

We don't board our pups more than a few times a year. Unfortunately, the last two times we boarded the dogs, they ended up with extremely horrible diarrhea about three days after returning home.

By extremely horrible... I mean EXTREMELY HORRIBLE.

I picked the pups up yesterday from our favorite kennel and so far, knock on wood, everything seems to be fine. I'm keeping an eye out for slimy poos, weird behavior, and rank ass gas all while crossing my fingers and sending lots of prayers to the Diarrhea Gods that that miserable experience doesn't happen again.

(After the last times, we took the dogs to the vet. He looked at stool samples and all that, but nothing. Studies conclude that it was just stress. My dogs are a couple of weenies.)

Cross your paws for us ....

And They Called it, Puppy Love.

I dunno about you, but I could use some squishy goodness right about now.

I've been away from these little rug-rats since Wednesday. Now, I can't get enough of their smooshy faces and their soft, just-had-a-bath fur! Mmmmmmm. Puppy Love.

They Do

Attended my brother-in-law's wedding today. I was in the wedding, but the bride asked if I wouldn't mind taking pictures still. So, while I didn't get any ceremony pictures, I did get some before shots of the bride and a few posed shots.

As usual, had a great time with the in-laws. I'm glad to finally be able to call T my sister-in-law. You know, instead of "soon-to-be-sister-in-law" or "brother-in-law's girlfriend". All of that is just so darn confusing.

It is also nice to know that there is someone else who is crazy enough to marry int this family besides me! (Just kidding....)

(As I'm still in LOVE with my 50mm f/1.4... I totally took on the challenge of shooting everything with Just. That. Lens. and zero flash. Just to see.)




As usual, there are LOADS more on my Flickr.com site.

Make Sure Your Seats & Tray Tables are In Their Full, Upright & Locked Positions

Hard to believe, but I was once a melodramatic thirteen year old. Yeah, I know right? I am so not a whiny brat anymore.

Well, at thirteen, my parents had just divorced and were living 800 miles away from each other. This meant that there were going to be many, unchaperoned flights in my future.

The night before my first flight ever alone (ok, so i was accompanied by my 10 year old little brother), someone in my family made the executive decision to let me watch Passenger 57.

Who thought that was a good idea? Fortunately, none of that shizzle went down, but you can bet your iPod that I was vigilant on that flight.

Somehow, I had failed to learn about the horrible wretchedness of turbulence before flying. On our flight back home at the end of that Easter holiday weekend, I got a hands on experience in turbulence 101.

There is something different between bumpy roads and bumpy flights. I think it is that absence of something solid directly beneath the plane. The up parts of the bumps are fine, it is just that falling sensation that makes my stomach do flip-flops.

This particular flight was by far the most turbulent I have ever been on. To say the turbulence was reminiscent of a roller coaster ride would be an understatement.

It wasn't just bumping, but swaying and jolting in all directions. This lasted for a good 30 minutes at the end of our 3 hour flight.

Before we started our final decent, my brother decided he had to vomit. Instead of reaching for a barf bag, he spewed Easter candy remnants all over his lap. He even managed to get some on the shoes of the lady sitting behind us.

I frantically pushed the flight attendants call button what I felt like an appropriate number of times. Because, come on... I was sitting next to a puddle of vomit! Someone cane and cleaned my little brother up and moved us to a different seat. About 2 minutes after sitting down, I had the urge to yak up my marshmellow peeps and cadbirry eggs too. I however reached for the bag which continental airlines so graciously provided. What can I say, I vomit with grace.


This just so happened to be just as the plane was about to land. So, I didn't have time to call and have ridiculously full vomit bag picked up and properly discarded. Instead, I tucked it away under the west in front of me.

Did I mention that this was a connecting flight? Have you seen what goes on in between connecting flights? I can tell you that they don't clean... They just count heads. This means that when the next passenger went to put his or her small personal item under the seat in
front of them, they were probably greeted with a nice warm bag of turbulent swag.

Now, when ever there is slightest bit if turbulence on a flight, I immediately freeze, my stomach tightens and prepare for the worse. Thankfully, nothing has yet to top that flight in 1995. Knock on wood.

Baby Scarlett

I posted a few pictures on C's blog, and of course, you see LOADS more on my flickr site.

I'm outta here for a while... We fly to Texas later this afternoon and wont be home until late Sunday night.

(Though, I'm sure you'll here from before Sunday!)

Who Says Whining Wont Get You Anywhere

Looks as if the Labor and Delivery Gods are smiling down on me (oh yeah and C&M too).

C's water broke...... she's at the hospital, waiting.

We are in for a long night....

Pulled my Head out of My ...

So, am no longer depressed and whiny. A few martinis and no dinner took care of that last. A very adult way to handle my feelings, I know.

While yes, I'm still bummed about not being there, and yes, it is still the most bummed I've been in a long time..... I think I have finally just accepted my fate and can now move on.

Now I need to focus on such important tasks as finding a "Don't Mess with Texas" onesie while I'm out of town, and well, living my life.

I need to finish getting ready to go out of town Wednesday. I have laundry to be done, dogs to board (yikes, I know), suitcases to pack and boarding passes to print. Ugh, and the fun task of loading up camera equipment, battery chargers, and my laptop.

Must be more productive... and less whiny. <--- My new mantra.

This is Me Being a Whiny Brat

(I feel like I've used that title before.)
::

So , for like, the millionth time, have I mentioned my BFF is pregnant? Well, she is. She is pregnant and a bit past her due date already. (and yes, she tried it. and that, and yes.. even that. Everything... excluding Castor oil)

Today, C had her non-stress test. While everything with Baby S is hunky dory (and that really is ALL we can ask for), there were no signs of the baby coming out on her own. It looks as if Baby's scheduled arrival will be sometime after they induce on Thursday at 5am.

Unfortunately for me, this means I'll be out of town. I wont be around to the meet the baby and see M&C until the FOLLOWING WEEK sometime.

I can't help but be Über-bummed about this. So bummed, that it could very well be the most bummed I've felt in a long time.

I don't know how to explain it with out sound like a whiny brat that feels she is being served some great, horrible injustice by Mother Nature and C herself. (C, trust me, I don't feel that way.. it may come across that way.. but I don't. And trust me honey, I know that if this waiting is THIS HARD on me.. the non-pregnant one... you must be INSANE trying to get this kid out already!) Because, this isn't anything anyone has any control over. No one is deliberately forcing Baby to stay put until I am not around.

I just feel that I've been waiting this whole time with M&C. I waited while they tried, tried and tried again. I waited through pregnancy test after discarded, negative, pregnancy test. When she did finally get that happy little positive sign, I waited through those grueling first twelve weeks before she felt comfortable enough to share this news with the rest of the world.

All this waiting, something I'm particularly HORRIBLE at, and now I have to effing wait some more. I have to wait until (as selfish and immature as all of this sounds, I'm continuing) everyone else has met and (most importantly) PHOTOGRAPHED Baby S.

Yes. I'm being selfish. Baby is happy and healthy. Mom is healthy. All is going as nature intended (until the big I on Thursday).... I need to just shut up.

But I can't . I can't shut up. I feel poopy. I have a serious case of the blahs. We all knew this was a possibility. This lateness was inevitable. I guess I just didn't fully accept it until today, after C's doctor appointment. I kept hoping that she'd go into labor on her own and Baby S would grace us all with her presence. As the day draws nearer, no such luck.

Hopefully, all of my pouting wont interfere with my ability to have fun this weekend. I'm sure it wont, once I get there and all. But God help my iPhone battery, as I'm sure I'll be checking for messages and emails about twice a minute until I hear all is well and I get a picture of Baby S!

...... it is officially martini time.

Hotel EmilyPie

While my friend C is busy nesting and preparing for the arrival of her first baby... a baby that was due LAST Thursday, but probably wont come until she is induced on the 17th - while I'm out of town, none the less..... I am busy nesting and preparing for an arrival as well. Though, the arrival I'm preparing for isn't a sweet bundle of joy. It is actually a bundle of C's in-laws - mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law.

Her husband's family is crashing at our place while we are out of town (my husband's, brother's wedding in Texas). Hopefully, this will help keep people comfortable while new mommy and daddy try to get used to having a wee one in their house for the first few days.

This sort of sounds crazy and disconnected, but trust me, it isn't. My husband, B, and C's husband, M, have known each other since they were toddlers. they grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools and my husband even lived with M's family their senior year in high school (B's family moved to Texas and B wanted to graduate from the school he'd been going to ...). M's family is very much a second family for my husband.

Back to preparing.... I have grand ideas of making a welcome note showing people to their rooms and what not. I even want to print instruction sheets on how to use the coffee maker, humidifier, thermostat and TV (with an actual diagram of the remote control!). If I do that, I'd also have to label the kitchen.. dishes, glasses, silverware...... Oh there is no stopping!

Eeek. I even get to set up the guest bedroom and master bedroom for guests - laying towels out, extra pillows and blankets! If I want to get super cozy, I can set out some breakfast items on the counter and set the coffee to brew automatically.

I think I am getting far too excited about having people stay at my place while I'm gone.... but you must admit, it is much better than having people stay with you while you are there! This will be a piece of cake. Though, I only have until Tuesday night to pack, clean, grocery shop and prepare. *sigh*

But Wait, There's More

(Or... The One Where I Shamelessly Plug an Internet-Friend's Business...)

A fellow Boston Terrier owner, and Woofboard member happens to make THE MOST AWESOME dog collars. She's been know to make many other items as well. So, after I found and ordered my camera strap from VMJess on etsy, I emailed Randi at Zoe's Collection asking if this was something she could make. She said she'd actually made one for herself before but was still working out the logistics in actually selling them on her website.

Well, great news. Zoe's Collection camera straps are up on the website, ready to order. I must say, they look rather sophisticated. I think I'm going to have to splurge and purchase a second camera strap. Yikes! (shh. don't tell my husband.)

More designs available on her website.

While you are at it, check out her collars, harnesses and leashes for dogs.

T & Baby F sporting their Zoe's Collection Collars

Say Hello to My Little Friend

My camera strap arrived today. I love it. I did choose to shorten it as short as it would go. I cut off the extra and burned the the fray with a lighter.

The strap, as pretty as it was alone, came tied together with a cutesy ribbon and an adorable business card for vmjess.

De-Lurk Yourselves Fair Readers

Yes, Alyndabear, I yanked your graphic. thank you btw.

Or not. I'm fairly certain my few hits aren't by anyone other than my husband and my usual readers. But if you ARE a stranger and you do happen to stumble upon my site. Don't leave just yet. Yes, you there, searching for cut tampon strings, pie wedgies, mom cleavage, and all things thong. Oh and you, over there, who just happened to follow a link from so-and-so's blog after I left a rambling comment, and you just had to see who would leave such lame remarks.

Stop right there.

You have found me. Nice to meet you.

But wait, I haven't met you yet. You have not introduced yourself. So now, here comes the obligatory Q&A. I ask, you tell.

If you could visit ANY country in the world. Where would you go? Why would you go there? and Who would you take with you?

This is a common, unimaginative question, I know. But I'm a Used-To-Be traveller with plans to one day travel again. I've had the wonderful opportunities to travel through out China, live in China for a year, travel in Thailand for 6 weeks, and I once saw the sites of Cambodia. Then there was of course Cancun. Oh Cancun. And let's not forget the traveling through out the U.S. This country is quite large and has tons to offer in the way of food, nature, and history.

So, not as much travelling as many people, but still more than others. I'm just not satisfied.

My next country to conquer.... well, I think it would have to be India. I hear travelling in India can be pretty rough.... but I'd love to give it a shot. No doubt there will be tears, tantrums, and diarrhea along the way... but what good trip doesn't include those things?