Aunt Crazy

Wedding and Vacation in Colorado

2009-11-03T16:30:00.035-05:00

Derek, this one's for you!!! Sorry it took so long!!

OK, Colorado! July was a great month, as you can tell, but it all came to a peak at, well, a peak! The peak of Keystone Mountain, to be exact. Our best family friends had a wedding, and the entire Kennedy clan was invited! On top of that, I was asked to be wedding photographer. In the immortal words of Shaggy from Scooby Doo, ZOIKS!

Jenny Fundingsland-Geyer and Seth Geyer, moments after their nuptuals!

We arrived on Thursday, which was the evening of the Rehearsal Dinner. Seth's family rented a gorgeous house near the Keystone Resort and - Zoiks again! - agreed to make the food! It was an enormous spread and it felt so casual and homey to hang out with all the wedding people in a house. It was also SOOOO Seth and Jenny!

It was a nice house, so shoes were left in the foyer! This made it more casual.... and not even a little bit stinky, which was great!

Mrs. Geyer and Leah playing hostesses

Kane and Heather Geyer

Jenny's Mom and Christie (my sister, "Mom Crazy" to you blog readers)

The groom, Shannon with her eyes closed, and Leah

Caleb checking out the yard (and the really cool earth moving equipment across the street!)

Mom, Mrs. Geyer and Mr. Geyer (my Dad's best friend from the US Merchant Marine Academy)

Billy and Noah hiding upstairs

Julia, Ellie (cousin and maternal Aunt of the Groom, as you can probably tell!) and my Mom

Leah, 3-week old Henry, and Mom

Aunt Crazy with Lauren (with my iPhone!) and Kyla on Friday morning

The Groom and my brother Bill... who is delivering the shirt and jacket that the groom forgot! Ooops! Oh well, if that is the only glitch, we'll be FINE.

Shannon - Sister-in-law of the Groom and Matron of ceremonies - and I going up the gondola from the resort (which takes you from the lowly Keystone Resort altitude of 9,000+ feet to the top of Dercum, which is 11,444 feet above sea level!)

NOTE TO READER: We are Virginia Beach people! A typical question we ask each other is "how far BELOW sea level is your house?" This is definitely a new adventure!

View downmountain from the gondola

Jenny getting ready

The "missing shirt and jacket" episode put us a bit behind schedule, so when it was time to shoot the bride & bridesmaids, there wasn't a lot of private locations away from the groom. So the brave little bride went - where else? - up!

Jenny on the EXTREMELY windy crows nest of the Summit House

If you're going to agree to be a wedding photographer, make sure all of your brides are as beautiful as Jenny. That's my advice. You can't mess up a picture of this girl - especially when she was so laid back and HAPPY!

Jenny and her girls

Meanwhile, Bill was hanging with the guys. I LOVE this picture that he took of Seth and Jenny's friends preparing the Honeymoon suite!

George Geyer and Seth Geyer (a la Bill too, another excellent shot

Seth gave all the guys Vans as groomsmen presents. Noah (second from the left) was probably the most grateful - he thought that was the coolest thing! We all did.

The Location ... I believe this overlooks Dillon Lake.

Another pre-wedding shot

Hold your horses!

No wedding just yet ... there's a storm brewing. Everyone back up the mountain to the Summit House!

Hail? Seriously? Hail?? Colorado weather is WACKY!

No reason to let a perfectly good cocktail reception wait until AFTER the wedding vows!

Seth and Jenny were pretty good about mingling in separate parts of the Summit House, although - as you can see - Seth was always near a window to check the progression of the storm. I think he was ready to get on with the show! Here he is with his Aunt Jeannie, Matt, and Christie. Unfortunately, this is where Jeannie later witnessed the wedding. I don't think you can over-estimate the effect of this altitude on people, even tough Ohio farmers like the Geyers!

Cocktail hour with the girls before the ceremony

Christie and Matt

Father of the Groom ... or "Grandpa" to Caleb

OK, back out again! Christie, Matt, Bill, Leah and Caleb are ready for the ceremony

The "Roger & Mary Geyer" contingent! Heather, Kane, Rog, and Rory

George and Anne Geyer

Jake, Seth, Noah, and Steve (left to right)

The Vows

The settingBilly took this shot of the Bride and Groom while I BOOKED IT up the hill and up 5 flights of stairs to the Crow's Nest. Did I mention we're 11,000+ feet above sea level and I have asthma?

This shot was worth it ... the entire wedding party cheering as Jenny and Seth kiss in front. The photo was Seth's idea, and I'm so glad he requested it!

The "George and Anne" Geyers - George, Caleb, Noah, Leah, Shannon, Jenny, Seth, Jake, Anne and Adam

(unfortunately Dave had to stay down-mountain with Henry, who was too young to come to the wedding at this altitude)

Photographer and Bride

A quiet, post-ceremony moment for Jenny and Seth

The Ohio Geyer siblings (3 of the 5 of them, anyway!) - Roger, Jeannie, and George

I miss Kelsey!

Mom and Aunt Crazy

Wedding complete! Now let's relax and enjoy the beer and bluegrass!

Saturday was a gorgeous, Colorado Summer day in Keystone! Music and beverages abound.

The Kennedys - Anne, Nancy, Kyla, Bill, Christie, Matt and Lauren

I love this picture of Lauren and Uncle Bill.

Kyla became a rock collecting expert. Collecting rocks and throwing them in the stream was top-shelf entertainment.

Why my nieces found it so fun to try on everything in my suitcase I'll never know, but they looked cute!

Relaxing at the lodge.

Feeding the chipmunks at Lake Dillon

Another Kennedy shot.

Kyla and Uncle Bill

Farewell Kennedys and Geyers ... I'm off to Boulder! Vacation Part Deux!

Hanging with Kramer downtown (on Pearl Street)

Taking the Celestial Seasonings tour ....

... with hairnets.

The Sleepytime Tea bear

My illegal photo of the teabagging sign. Snicker snicker...

Taking a "short" one hour, twice-a-day walk with the dog. Sheesh we East Coasters have a lot to learn about a healthy lifestyle!

Kramer and her dogwalking buddies, Frank and Kip

Visiting Caroline! Caroline's oldest daughter, Gabi.

Caroline making pizza for lunch with her son, Evan.

Evan giggling.

Gabi grinning

The pizza she just threw together ... how delicious does that look???

ONLY in Boulder could you buy Hemp Ice Cream.

The Boulder County Fair!! Woo hoo! Kramer with some crazy Scottish cow.

Me and the Boulder County Queen ... no, it was NOT actually that hot. I didn't ask.

Fairgrounds

Pigs passed out so fast he is wearing his bowl for a hat. Funny.

Some crazy goat-walking-around contest ... ??????

Barrel Racing!! A "Must See."

Last night - dinner at Kitchen with Caroline and Kramer.

Am I that tall or is she that short? Who knows?

FUN FUN FUN!!

Green Smoothies, Shakespeare, and Porch Sales

2009-10-08T16:14:00.011-04:00

So I have been trying to eat more greens ... which I hate. I could never willfully buy them in the store, but once in a while I receive them in my weekly CSA. So in an effort to digest these healthy, leafy plants, I asked Dr. Google what I should do.

He replied that I should process my greens into a smoothie. What's that? A SMOOTHIE? What a wonderful idea! Combine the nasty stuff with bananas! Peaches! Honey! YES!!

But one little problem: my blender was purchased in my college days and primarily used for bad margaritas and more recently, gazpacho. When I made my first green smoothie with that old thing, I almost gagged on little chunks of beet leaves that were stuck in the back of my throat after a large sip.

So...

Yes, you guessed it. The old blender sold for $5 in a yard sale, and my $300 CSA suddenly turned into a $700 investment, because it cost me an additional $400 in a blender. Ladies & Gentlemen, meet the Vita Mix Turboblend 4500. This blender ROCKS! I couldn't be happier!

And it still makes a GREAT margarita. :)

My new blender

This particular photo shows me attempting an Apple Pie Martini ...

... which actually looks better than it tastes, especially when I add the "bling" of cactus stirrers, little umbrellas, and flourescent plastic mermaids lounging on the rim.

So I am sorry, but we are still in July. I guess it was a busy month! This particular weekend, Nicole, Janeen and I went to see Hamlet at Agecroft Hall, which is an amazing house on the James River that was actually shipped here - piece by piece! - from merry ol' England.

Nicole and Janeen in front of the gardens

Agecroft Hall - it doesn't get much more Shakespearean than this!

Hamlet!

And the sale. I actually ended up having two Porch Sales this year, and although I got rid of quite a lot of unnecessary stuff from around my house, I can hardly say the hours of cleaning, hours of planning, advertising and pricing, lost sleep in the early Saturday mornings, delicate discussions with the rude folks who come an hour early, and subsequent trips to Goodwill anyway after it's all over make it very worthwhile. Still, it's an American tradition!

This was the crazy yard sale cat that I don't remember seeing before and haven't seen since, who made himself totally at home amongst our wares.

Sale at its peak

Shopper ... and cat. Actually, this is the lady who purchased said blender as referenced above! Blender is displayed next to the bizarre kokopelli candlestick holder that was left in my house by the last tenants.

This really was a funny cat.

Summer Day of Cooking and Laundry... but Fun!

2009-09-17T11:28:00.015-04:00

I'm still catching up on weekends from JULY, but this weekend, I go visit Sophie!! I was lucky to see her twice last year, once for her brother Simon's wedding in May and once when she visited Richmond in October, but THIS YEAR is different. This year I will be visiting a Casey family of THREE! I can't wait.

Meanwhile, here are some pictures from a fun Saturday in July where I hung out with the older Lual girls for the day. The goal was to talk about healthy shopping and cooking and to get a few loads of laundry done. I think - when it was all said and done - they just wanted a day out of the house. Oh well! We had a great time!

Achan and Awut

The fresh pasta guy at the Farmers' Market.

Aunt Crazy at the Farmers' Market, coffee and wallet in hand. (Both necessities, I'm sure you'll agree.)

Running into Molly's friend "B" on the farm bus. I used to babysit for Molly when she was 6, and as she grew up with this great group of friends in Fredericksburg. Lo and behold, one of them lived a few doors down from me. And if that's not enough, we run into each other on an old school bus that sells farm veggies at the Farmers' Market!

Hitting the Asian Market (Tan-A for you Richmonders) for a few more ingredients.

The fish looked awesome, but alas, it wasn't one of the 4 recipes the girls had picked out for the day.

The twins, Achan and Anger.

Ayak

Anger

Achan

A typical Saturday's worth of laundry at the Lual house ... there ARE 10 people living there, you know. It took about 8 loads.

On my porch waiting for the pizza dough to rise.

The Sausage ... mmmmm, meat makes EVERYTHING better.

Awut's self portrait.

OK, so maybe I haven't learned the secret of making pizza dough with wheat flour. It was REALLY wrong. I think I downloaded a bad recipe from The Interweb, because instead of encouraging the girls to make this at home, they were TOTALLY turned off by the make-your-own-pizza thing and decided ordering pizza is way better any time. Oy.

Achan holding a ceramic ornament she made me a few years ago, which I keep on my kitchen wall.

The pizza ... don't worry! We still ate it. Again, did I MENTION how meat makes everything OK? Particularly when cheese is also involved.

Anger on the back porch

Awut in the kitchen. We got a little punchy towards the end of the day. This is one of her treasured wrestling shirts. I am still waiting for her obsession with wrestling to END (particularly this John Cena person she adores), but I think I just have to accept that it is one of her passions and it will never end. *SIGH*

So after pasta, pizza, and something else I forgot we made, the brownies. They were actually all right.

Even with wheat flour. :)

Charlottesville Winery tour with the SAP boys

2009-09-02T17:40:00.012-04:00

Look at me - BLOGGING like crazy! Two posts in two days - can you believe it?? Of course, they're from July, but anyway ....

On Saturday, July 11th, I met Matt and Geoff in Charlottesville to tour a few wineries that Matt had researched. He now lives in Myrtle Beach, SC, so Virginia Wine must be earning quite a good reputation to justify this investment of time and energy.

Oh, all right ... it was probably mostly for fun. And yes, we drank half of our "finds" that day anyway!! I might have a FEW bottles left...

First stop: Barboursville. Beautiful location, delicious wine, great wine tasting "system"!

Grounds of Barboursville .... windmills and all!

Bottles anxious to be filled...

Herb garden, presumably to supply the famous local Italian restaurant also located here.

Onions

More vines...

Lavender, I think?

Bee.

The old Governor's mansion.

Next stop: Horton - there was a pig roast going on here that day which looked like fun.

Horton: cool castle, crap wine.

Next stop: Lunch at Smokin' Eddie's BBQ ... Matt and Geoff walking in ...

Matt really needs to not zoom in that close with my camera just because he can.

OK, there's a REASON I'm usually the one TAKING the pictures!!

I think that's enough!!

Condiments at Fast Eddies.

Turnabout is fair play, Matthew!!

Geoff looks good, of course. It's a shame. It would be fun to blackmail him.

Deep fried mushrooms ... just because. (They actually weren't as good as they looked!)

Last stop: Veritas ... DEFINITELY our favorite!!

The Veritas Tasting room.

More of the Veritas Tasting Room ... they actually bring the wine to YOU!

Matt, Aunt Crazy, and Geoff .... with empty glasses!!

Buying our loot. We all regretted not buying more of the Veritas Claret - that was so yummy.

More views of the Veritas Tasting Room...

Matt and Geoff laughing at me because I left the windows and the sunroof down at Barboursville while Matt toured us around. Meanwhile, there was apparently a DELUGE - but ONLY over Barboursville! We never saw rain! It took days to dry out the car.

Geoff in what we HOPE will eventually be his Facebook picture, if he ever bothers to get an account!

Matt's Facebook picture. :)

Geoff teasing me ... we actually SAW the woman who drives this car, and she looks remarkably normal. It's still a mystery to me.

Before heading home, we got a cheeseplate, opened a newly-purchased bottle, and walked over to the ruins of the Barboursville Governor's mansion.

The columns at the front entrance.

A view of an interior fireplace through a window.

The back columns from the outside.

Geoff, me and Matt, taken by a nice mother and daughter who also chose to trespass on the grounds after hours. Safety in numbers!

View from the back of the mansion toward the ... backyard, I guess? Some nice backyard!

This is the front of the mansion with the famous Octagon room. Thomas Jefferson designed this home, and I guess octagon rooms were his thing! Personally, I think it would be hard to furnish.

Time to go, I guess. I have to be at Bollywood Night at Cous Cous in Richmond by 10:30.

Farewell Charlottesville! Thanks for a beautiful day!

4th of July in Ocean City, MD!

2009-08-26T14:19:00.020-04:00

Yes, I know it's September, but here are the pictures from a VERY fun weekend with friends in Ocean City, MD over the July 4th holiday ... enjoy!

Ted on his vespa on the way to Dance class. Yes, I'm serious. But it gets better....

Billy on Michaela's vespa on his way to Dance class too ... with a pink helmut.

Taking the girls to the Minit Mart for breakfast.

Spies at a great fish taco place that I can't remember because it was 2 months ago! Sheesh.

Martha and Tim at said fish taco joint.

Hanging out with Tim, Spies and Martha at Coconuts.

Mary Paula cracking up the girls, as usual ... Erin, Michaela and Spies.

Tim and Billy

Taking a break for burgers

Back on the boat and headed to M.R. Ducks ... Billy dances, Marthat pouts over spilled beer, Tim lends a sympathetic hand. Of course, it was probably his beer that spilled on her.

Martha and Spies

Captain Teddy

Amy and Samantha with sparklers ... they did a much better job than Tommy Lee, don't you think? But like Jenni says, how hard ARE sparklers, anyway???

Samantha with her gangsta attire.

Aunt Crazy and Lindsey

CC at the Spies' house on Sunday morning.

Lindsey after Pepsi for breakfast.

Some of the modelling shots ... I think Samantha took this of CC.

I think Amy took this one of Samantha.

Back to the Lizas house ... Big Ted arrives.

Big Ted and his fan base ... the girls LOVE Papu.

Spies, Sloan and Billy at Seacrets.

Seacrets - one of the biggest restaurants I've ever seen! Something like 17 stages? It's insane. Good though!!

Sloan and Samantha

Tim, Ted, Karl and Billy

Lindsey and Spies

On the boat to M.R. Ducks

Ted and Spies back at the Lizas' house

View of the Lizas' deck from the dock. Ted and Michaela's house was like Bernie's place at Weekend at Bernies (1:45 seconds in, specifically - "...everybody parties from house to house, but they always end up here sooner or later!").

More Coconuts fun...

Amy took a picture of this for me ... it makes me laugh: an outdoor shower in the middle of a restaurant marked "Private."

Tim and Martha Spadafore

Aunt Crazy, Tim, Spies, Martha and Karl, back at M.R. Ducks for more fun.

MMMMMMMMMMMMM... nothing says "holiday weekend" like a bucket of Miller Lite.

Having a duck with Karl ... yes, we realize these probably aren't sanitary. Still, no swine flu, so we consider ourselves lucky!

Karl and Krista bid farewell. :(

On the drive back to Richmond, I stopped in Cape Charles (on the Eastern Shore) to check out the town. It was adorable! This museum had a lot of cool information from the time when the train used to travel all the way down the Eastern Shore and terminate in Cape Charles, before the construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Fisherman's Island, shot out the sunroof of the car over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. I have a lot of memories of crossing this bridge to go to my grandparents' house outside of Philadelphia every Thanksgiving.

I wasn't far from the Princess Anne Memorial Park, so I stopped to see Dad. Very nice weekend!! But was I TIRED the following week!!

Bursting with Beautiful Babies!

2009-08-10T11:32:00.020-04:00

Baby Casey!

First, let me introduce the long-awaited Ryan Benjamin Hugh Casey! A very dignified name for a VERY lucky little boy. He was born 10 days late and three days short of Aunt Crazy's birthday on June 22nd. Apparently this little English gentleman has actually already visited the States! What a well traveled newborn. :) Mummy and baby are doing great. I cannot WAIT to meet him in September!!

Sir Ryan

Looks like a mini-me of Rupert!

One lucky little boy!

Baby Anna's Open house!

On the weekend of June 27th, the Mary Washington College crowd reunited to officially meet Anna Jane Henderson at her Grandparent's house in Arlington, VA. We have been watching her grow from afar for many months now, and it was so great to actually kiss those adorable cheeks in person!

Some of us arrived at the Ballston Holiday Inn on Friday night. This was quite a road trip for Jenna's girls, Eliza and Eloise, so it was a great excuse to get gussied up. Here they are in their matching owl nighties and sleep masks. Such CLASS!

Eliza and Ellie

Here are the girls at the pool on Saturday morning. It was cold, but they were undeterred!

Jenna, Eliza and Ellie

The open house! Here is Miss Anna with her Grandma Rice.

Padma and Jennifer

Eliza and Anna

Anna and Ellie

The college crowd, counter-clockwise from the front: Eliza, Eloise, Anna, Jenna, Mo's sleeves, Jennifer, Padma, Mo's mom Eileen, and Kerry.

The birthday girls! Ellie and Aunt Crazy have the same birthday, which I think is so cool.

Eliza taking a picture of Padma and Jenna

Jennifer and her mother-in-law Eleanor

Eliza

Padma with her new flower

Eliza-eye-view of Kerry and Aunt Crazy

Guest of honor and her Mom... I think it is a cute mirror-image shot.

Eliza, Jennifer's Goddaughter, feeding Anna, Jennifer's daughter. Sweet moment.

Jennifer, Anna, and Ellie

Anna Jane in all her chubby glory!

Beautiful Anna

Ellie, Anna and Eliza

Jenna and Anna

Grandma Rice went ALL OUT - delicious food and cute little cookie favors

Padma and Anna ... Anna, dear, it's rude to eat your fist in front of a vegetarian. Save that move for your carnivorous Aunt Crazy. :)

Jennifer telling everyone the CRAZY story of Anna's adoption.

Walking from our hotel to the Metro to go to Cafe Asia for dinner.

Eliza with her Kung Fu chopstick moves.

Aunt Crazy and Ellie posing for Eliza the photographer. (The Leche-tini is mine, not Eloise's ... yet!! Just 19 more years!)

Aunt Crazy and her signature red-wine-in-a-plastic-Holiday-Inn-cup position.

Eliza the Photographer: Self Portrait.

Sunday with the Hultman Five!

After leaving the college girls, I had a great time hanging out with my High School girlfriend, Erin, and her family, Chip, Finn, Cait, and Ryan. (Ryan the girl, this time!)

Finn and Cait waiting for Pizza Dough

Finn, Cait, and Chip

The entire clan: Ryan, Erin, Finn, Cait and Chip

Finn, Chip, Ryan, Erin and Cait ... what a brood!

Cait and her pizza dough bracelet ... I hadn't seen Cait since she was 9 months old! Bad Aunt Crazy.

Finn and his painting for Mommy ... methinks there are many paintings and many Starbucks in Mommy's future. :)

A sleepy Ryan and her Mom

Cait paints a masterpiece

Miss Ryan pretending to be a carpet ... I was stepping on her belly. Little did I know this would turn into an aerobic exercise, because Monkey See, Monkey Do.....

Next thing you know I have three carpets to step on!! I guess this is why Chip has the trampoline over there ... anything to wear out these little balls of energy!

Very fun visit. It was also exciting to see the house where Chip and Erin are going to build their dream home, as well as the final blueprints! Hopefully it will all be done this year. I can't wait to see the result!

Giddy-Up!

2009-07-23T20:08:00.004-04:00

As you can probably tell, I'm still catching up on the past few weeks' activities. This one is from Monday, June 22nd, when I took the Luals horsebackriding!

Nyabol has been looking forward to this since FEBRUARY, when it was both her birthday AND she got to the "top of the behavior tree" 20 times for the school year. She went on to get to the top a total of 40 times by the end of the year! Pretty good for a little Chatty Cathy like her.

So she picked 3 siblings and off we went to Tall Cedars Farm. Here are a few photos from the afternoon!

Bottle Holder

2009-07-21T11:45:00.005-04:00

Hahaha ... I was chosen! I submitted this photo to There, I Fixed It, and they posted it! This is me in my high chair, with my bottle holder, compliments of JK. So far there are 26 "thumbs up" and no "thumbs down" - pretty impressive, although I'm sure it will change.

Mr. and Mrs. Labady Build Their Dream House

2009-07-13T10:16:00.025-04:00

I hadn't seen Dearne and Andrew (AKA "Laba") in ages. I did see Dearne in the Fall for her wedding shower (bottom of this blogpost), but Andrew since my brother's 30th birthday last Spring. I caught up with them on my way out of DC on Sunday, June 21st, the day after Soo's wedding. They themselves were married on November 7th in their native town of Melbourne, Australia. Unfortunately I missed it! (For those of you who know me, I rarely miss an opportunity to abandon my job and house and leave the country, so this was a biggie!)

A few weekends in to being the proud owners of what they knew to be a "fixer upper" in January of 2008, a pipe broke on the third floor of their lovely "new to you" home. They discovered it several days later, and since then "Nellie" (since the home is on Nellie Custis Dr. in Arlington) has been a labor of love... and stress. Here's an example of what these two have been through ... check out this photo of their move-in day!

Personally? I loved Nellie! I just had no real concept of what Dearne and Laba were dealing with - the SCALE of it, I mean - until I arrived last month ... WOW!! Here is your (amateur) photographic tour ...

Historic iron gate around to the right from the front, allegedly purchased from an obsolete cemetary. (No, we didn't know cemetaries could become obsolete either - scary!)

Nellie from the far side of the backyard, looking up from the swimming pool, past the 2 retaining walls containing the WATERFALL and one more retaining wall... for good measure? :)

Looking down from the backyard toward the pool. Check out the cinderblocks in the bottom of the pool to give you an idea of the proportion here. Andrew built the fence himself! Unreal.

More of the fence ... that's Dearne heading down to say Hi.

A view of the driveway. You might say "why would they put in a swimming pool before they have walls?" I know I asked that very question! Well, I guess in a major renovation, it's all about timing. You have to be able to handle more than one major project going on at the same time. While they are definitely rewiring, repiping, and generally RESTRUCTURING the entire interior, they also put an addition on the house and plan to eventually redo the driveway and garage. Why redo the driveway BEFORE having massive excavating and transporting equipment and drive all over it to work on the backyard? That made sense to me.

View from the new balcony off the master suite down to the backyard.

View from the guest bedroom down to the backyard.

The kitchen! Dearne cooks here every day, not just for Laba and herself but also for the dozens of workers they may have in the house at any given moment! (Only 3 workers were there the day I visited, but then again, it was just a Sunday!)

The family room. I was told there used to be about 3 walls in between where I'm standing in the kitchen and the far windows - pretty closed off before. Well, it's open now! That bathroom is the only functioning bathroom in the house. Well "functioning" may not be the right word. The toilet doesn't flush. There is a bucket next to the toilet that you fill with water from the shower and pour in to flush it yourself. Except sometimes the workers don't flush.

So Dearne does that for them, too. Wow.

The future site of the Wine Cellar in the basement. That wall is new, too - it was dirt. Well, until the pipe broke on the third floor for several days in the winter last year. Then the wall became mud, thereby reprioritizing "install a new foundation" to the top of the list of things to do in this 100 year old farmhouse.

The apartment! This is the one-room-palace where Dearne and Laba actually live, on one side of the first floor of the house, off of the kitchen.

Other half of the apartment, with Dearne giving us her best "Vanna White". She is currently pointing to their office!

All the nice stuff, packed away but waiting to come out when the house has walls!

The upstairs laundry room and scene of the pipebreaking crime of '08.

The guest bedroom. Notice the plywood in the back to give the illusion of privacy. Of course, there is no door....

The new MASTER SUITE! All teasing aside, this is an entirely new addition and when this is done, it will be stunning! Right now it's all kitted out with pipe fittings and brand-spanking-new electrical. As soon as we have insulation and walls ....

The bump out. This is what used to be the attic, which Dearne and Andrew had "bumped out" to expand into a beautiful bedroom/recreation room. The green you see is the spray-in insulation that they just finished putting in themselves. It's amazing stuff that gets EVERY CREVICE and dries in about 15 seconds. As soon as those walls come in ... hmm, am I having a déjà vu or do I seem to be repeating myself?

The foyer. What's that? Ah, I see... I appear to be getting kicked out now ...

Farewell Nellie! I'll miss you!! Be kind to my friends!!

Soo gets married!

2009-07-02T15:23:00.014-04:00

On June 20th, Soo Kang became Soo Kang-Johnson! Here are some shots from my fabulous weekend as maid of honor!

Day before the wedding ... checking out the reception place and learning that Angelina Jolie was just here the day before having a press luncheon for UN Refugee Day.

Jeff and Soo raking in the gifts before heading to the rehearsal dinner.

The Rehearsal Dinner at Founding Fathers

The pickles at Founding Fathers

Soo and her brother Shawn, with his daughter Rachel.

I let Jeff's nephews take a lot of the pictures from the weekend and they did a GREAT job! Eneko took this picture of me after the rehearsal dinner ... a reminder that the camera does not always have to be parallel to the horizon to get an interesting shot! (Of course I have that "becareful with my camera" look on my face like I always do in pictures!)

Soo and Jeff say goodnight and grab the ring boxes to go ...

Hanging at Starbucks on the morning of the wedding for a good 2 hours! That is ONE RELAXED BRIDE!

Rehearsing the dance

We were laughing because Soo kept saying "Jeff crosses my arms" and I couldn't figure out what she was talking about ... finally I got it.

Wouldn't be a DC wedding without a protest in front of the hotel down Pennsylvania Avenue!

The Dress

Me and Soo

The Bride in the mirror (no, that is not a Michael Jackson reference)

Soo walking out of the Hotel Lombardy headed next door to the Arts Club of Washington and running into Jeff's sister Sheila, his brother in law Jeff, and their son Marty. I love Sheila's expression!

The flowers

The flower girls, Rachel (Soo's niece) and Amaya (Jeff's niece)

Art shot (I'm trying to get ready to take pictures at my friends' wedding in July, so I practiced on Soo)

Jeff emerging from his "Groom cave" in the basement of the Arts Club. Jeff's a tall guy! This house was built by James Monroe as his DC residence.

The kiss!! (Cindy took this one - I can't take credit!)

Posing for the portrait shots

Soo changed into a more comfortable dress for the rehearsal. Here she is in her changing room with Suzi and Suzi's daughter, Chia.

Cindy and Eric!

Joann was swinging single, since her husband had a last minute business trip to NY and her kids were with their grandparents in Virginia Beach. Here she is with her red AND white wine, which she explained by saying she had both red meat and fish on her plate!

First Dance

Friends John, Stacey, Cindy and Eric

Cindy took this ... I think the relief that my Maid of Honor duties were over is on my face!

Eric, Cindy, and Soo dancing.

Just the girls - me, Soo, Cindy and Stacey (and Stacey's daughter to be)

More Dancing!

I love this picture of Amaya!

The wedding wouldn't be complete without me freaking the bride.

Oh dear. Fun though!

Jeff opened this gift at brunch on Sunday. They headed to Copenhagen on Tuesday for the Honeymoon!

Farewell DC ... thanks for a gorgeous weekend!

Lual Swimming lessons

2009-07-01T17:34:00.006-04:00

When my plans to go out of town on June 13th were cancelled, I accepted the kids' invitation to watch their swimming lessons at the Tuckahoe YMCA. It was a lot of fun! I was so impressed by how much they had learned since last year.

Duk, Deng, Nyabol and Mom's boss, Flossie

Duk jumping
Deng jumping

Nyabol jumping

Now the older girls and their friend Nyabol

Achan

Anger

Ayak getting in the water for the FIRST TIME EVER! Ayak has been petrified of the water ever since she almost drown in the James River when she first came to the US in 2005.

Nice backfloat Achan

Cam, the teacher, was great ... but did they really have to use all the props? Hee hee! Hey, I'm not judging! It worked!

I love Ayak's face here.

And off to Friendly's for lunch! Ayak, me and Duk

Achan and sister Nyabol

Deng, Yay, Anger and cousin/friend Nyabol

Congratulations Yay!

2009-07-01T17:07:00.004-04:00

Yay, who apparently spells his name Yai and I didn't realize that until 2 weeks ago, graduated from High School in June. Such an accomplishment!

Mother and son

Ayak gaving Yay the flowers

4 of the 9 Lual kids - Ayak, Awut, Yay, and Nyaring

Aunt Crazy ... in her LATE THIRTIES?? Ayayay.

2009-06-25T07:06:00.001-04:00

Visit from Uncle Bill

2009-06-16T13:26:00.011-04:00

I've been trying to get these posted for a week now, and I keep getting distracted! OK, I'm just going to POST THEM! Here are a hodge podge of pictures from teh weekend of June 6th, when Bill came in from California for a wedding in Richmond. My Mom and the Swartz family came up from North Carolina and we had a little family reunion!

Billy and Lauren work on the PVC pipe that Bill was using to take some fishing poles with him back to California.

Lauren watches Bill draw a fish on the side.

If this whole Cisco thing doesn't work out, Matt has the Harlem Globetrotter thing going on.

Drinking white wine spritzers with Christie in the backyard

Mom and Bill

Matt

Bill and Kyla

Mom and Kyla running Lauren's very well planned obstacle course!

Lauren in front of Shield's Market

Bill and Lauren on the Sky Ride at the Richmond Zoo.

Christie and I entitled this one "The grass is always greener!!"

Lauren and I getting on the Sky Ride ... yes, she rode it TWICE!

Chicken waiting for Mema to drop ANOTHER ice cream cone. :)

Alicia and Kevin with Megan and Brayden - having little kids is a lot of work!!!

Christie, Lauren, Kyla and Bill

Kyla and Bill watching the giraffes

Mrs. Peacock (Alicia's mom) and Brayden

Bill encouraging Kyla to feed the giraffe ... see Kyla? It's totally safe!

Uh oh!!! Love Kyla's expression with her tongue out, too. Afterwards we thought she'd cry but she just said "That tickles!"

Mommy and Baby Orangutan

Mom and Kyla in front of the tigers

Matt with his new San Diego Chargers shirt.

Billy picking Lauren up on his way back from running the obstacle course too.

Going for a walk with Mema

Kyla and Christie on the Merry-go-Round at the zoo. Kyla HAD to choose the giraffe, of course!

Another of Lauren and me on the Sky Ride.

Beautiful baby Megan and Alicia

This made us laugh. How cruel to put the cheetahs right on the other side of the fence from their natural prey, the zebra? And the zebra doesn't seem worried at ALL!!

Mom and Lauren reading a story. Lauren's face is precious.

Christie and Kyla reading a story.

VERY fun weekend!!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-27T13:10:00.013-04:00

Christie and Matt went to a wedding in the Outer Banks this weekend - poor things. Was I jealous? No way! I had three full days to hang with Lauren and Kyla!

Goofing around on Saturday morning

Lauren reached into the drawer and said she needed her "piggy nose..."

See? You never knew that a safety plug for an electrical socket could serve as a piggy nose, did you?

Kyla didnt' find another nose in the drawer, but was content to laugh at Lauren's.

Aunt Crazy took the girls to Harris Teeter for "a coffee" (i.e. vanilla frappuccino)

There weren't any benches in the shopping center so we made do with what was handy.

Then off to a neighbor's birthday party!

(Party started at 10:30 AM ... can you believe it's only 10:30? I couldn't!)

Landree (birthday girl) and Lauren

Janet (Mom) and Landree

Kyla and Landree with their cake

Landree

Lauren with cake mouth

Kyla had just turned 2 the week before, and I swear she thought it was her birthday all over again. She had the routine down ... sing as loud as you can, smear cake all over your face, even unwrap the gifts! (We stopped her in time.)

Playing with the water table on Sunday morning; I forgot how much fun squirt guns are!

Kyla dipping her elbows in the water

I was able to head off an "I miss Mommy" meltdown with fudgecicles.

Yep, that worked.

Time to walk off the popsicles with a walk around the lake.

Kyla with dandelion

Lauren and dandelion

Kyla looking cute

Lauren looking adorable

OK, after the rain ended our walk around the lake, it was time for fingerpainting.

Fingerpainting without a shirt for Kyla (I learned my lesson after the popsicle!)

Over to Mom's house for dinner on Sunday night ... the girls loved the puddle.

Lauren on her tricycle

Kyla and Lauren

Back in Crazy's car to head home!

On Monday morning, Lauren wanted me to take a picture of her in her dress with a flower from her ballet recital. It was a good opportunity to play with my camera settings. I'm trying to practice portraits because I am photographing our friends' wedding in July! So bear with me - some of these aren't that good, but the moments are cute!

Lauren

Lauren laughing

Kyla and Lauren

Kyla, Mema, and Lauren

I like this one ... I tend to like the ones with a lot of action.

Smell Mema!

Back outside for more sprinkler time!

Kyla let the sprinkles hit her a bit, but she was more interested in running around than getting wet!

The same could not be said for Lauren! :)

What a blast! I can't wait until everyone comes to Richmond in a couple weeks to see Uncle Bill, who is returning to town!

Two Churches in Two Towns

2009-05-22T12:13:00.027-04:00

This post is so late, but better late than never! On Sunday, May 17th, my nieces were baptized in Cary, NC. No better reason for Aunt Crazy to make a daytrip down from Richmond!

My brother-in-law's family all flew up from Florida for the occasion (and Kyla's 2nd birthday the day before), so it was a really a family reunion!

The Swartz grandchildren - Dylan, Lauren, Amelia and Kyla

The Swartz grandchildren when AUNT CRAZY tells them to pose!!

Dylan and Kyla hanging out before church ... Dylan is really the greatest cousin of all time. You'll see why in a few photos!

My beautiful, hilarious TWO YEAR OLD niece, Kyla!

The family preparing for the service.

Kyla chose to prepare for the service by coloring on the floor. On a paper on the floor, that is!!

The Swartz girls get baptized! Lauren, Matt, Christie and Kyla

(nevermind that boat behind them ... that was for a Jonah and the Whale skit that came later in the service!)

This cracked me up! Matt's sister Jen stands and dances when this unusual Methodist "sermon" called for it, but her two catholic children were NOT used to this activity at church! They just sat still in amazement as the crazy Protestants all but Hokey Pokey'd during the service. It was pretty funny.

Clapping hands during one of the songs. (Notice Dylan and Amelia are still frozen!)

The newly baptized girls greeted the congregation in a receiving line after the service.

Amelia, Mom Mom and Lauren on the way to Maggiano's for lunch. Mom Mom was a trooper to slide into the 3rd row seat - that's no easy task!

Why are the Swartzs smiling so big?

Because Dylan - best cousin EVER - agreed to put on this costume of Mike Wazowski (from Monsters, Inc., Kyla's favorite movie of the moment.)

Then Mema gave her a stuffed Sulley. That was it - Kyla was in heaven!

Dylan (err, Mike!), Kyla, Sulley, Amelia and Lauren

Kyla just kept pointing at Dylan in the costume and saying "MIKE WAZOWSKI!! MIKE WAZOWSKI!! MONSTER! DYLAN! MIKE WAZOWSKI!" Dylan also attracted more than a little attention from a toddler passerby in the hall, who walked right in our room.

Uncle Mike, Pop Pop and Mom Mom

Kyla, Ashley (Lauren's good friend), Lauren, Amelia and Dylan eating their pasta.

The kids hung out, played with toys and watched movies. It thought it was cute how Dylan put his hand on Kyla's back.

Mom Mom and Amelia chose stickers.

The Swartz family - Working diagonally from the upper left, Lauren, Matt, Pop Pop (Steve), Mom Mom (JoAnn), Dylan, Amelia, Mike, Jen, Christie and Kyla.

The Swartz grandchildren

We got back home and Dylan put the costume on again. Kyla was just as curious the second time around. So cute!

The day before ...

On Saturday, May 16th, I joined the Lual family at a reunion of Sudanese Refugees. It was a lot of fun, and very interesting to see everyone reunite.

Nyabol (another Nyabol, who is friends with the Middle School girls) and Achan

Deng and Duk

Mama Awut

I'm still not 100% sure why there was a stuffed lion above the cabinet in this church, but it seemed appropriate for this gathering of native Africans, actually. The kids thought it was cool, too.

Nyaring and her daughter Adeng

Flossie with Duk and Adeng (and a random baby she acquired at some point in the day!)

Cute picture of Duk and his niece, Adeng (I'm not kidding!)

Yay and Muloh

Muloh and Awut

Deng playing soccer

Hmmm... what do I spy inside this slide?

Ah! It's Nyabol!

Deng and Anger helping Muloh and another little boy with their cozy coupes

Aunt Crazy (with Deng's cap in my pocket!) and Nyabol

Duk, Aunt Crazy, and Anger

Achan working the information booth.

The adults watching a documentary in the sanctuary. As I listened to them laugh in unison at times and maintain solemn expressions at other times, I really wished I spoke Arabic or Denka so that I could understand why. Still, I looked around at these faces in wonder. How many have seen family and friends killed? How many were almost killed themselves? How many were trying to be grateful for the security and the opportunities offered by the United States, but secretly knew they would certainly trade it all for the opportunity to go home?

I am so fantastically lucky that I AM home, living with comfort and ease among my own people, culture, and policies. I have never experienced an existence WITHOUT the security and opportunities of the United States. Incredible, really.

The documentary on a favorite Sudanese leader prior to al-Bashir.

Ayak and Nyaring watching the documentary.

Did you know about this?

2009-05-20T18:15:00.007-04:00

Now I know I'm behind in my blogging, but I felt I had to post this!

So here I am, googling "where to buy jasmine flowers in Richmond, VA" for this martini recipe I found for tomorrow night, when one of the links directed me to a woman who borrowed money to start a jasmine flower business.

Wha??

So now I'm curious, and I decide to go to the homepage, Kiva.org. It's a web site where you can participate in granting small business loans to individual entrepreneurs around the globe!

Did I do it? OF COURSE I DID! I am the big bad American loan shark who is financing the repair of a taxicab in Togo, the building of a personal shed in Tajikistan, the neighborhood bank in Cambodia, and a clothing retailer in Paraguay. It would make a great novel, don't you think?

Please meet my Loanees:

Gameli Dovi, 37, is married and the father of 2 children. He is a taxi driver in Kpalimé, a town situated about 120 km from Lomé, the Togolese capital. The outlay of money to repair his car doesn't allow him to save anything nor support his family appropriately. With this loan, Gameli wishes to upgrade his car's motor so that he can go about his work and better cater for the needs of his family.

Holdor Tursunov is a 53 year old man. He is married and has 4 children. Holdor received a consumer loan in order to build a shed. Holdor has been a client of our Fund since 2008. He likes our terms. Holdor is a driver by profession. He works at a collective farm as a driver. In addition, on the weekends Holdor uses his car to provide rides. His wife takes care of the livestock which also brings income to the family.

Twelve people living in Romon village in Takeo province comprise this village bank loan, and they will use the loan for various purposes.

Mrs. Kheim Sout is the 37-year-old village bank president. She is a farmer who owns a 1-hectare field of land to cultivate rice. She also breeds chickens in the house. Her husband, Mr. Duong Vanna, is a motor taxi driver. Although they try to work hard they still earn insufficient income to support their family living. Thus, Mrs. Kheim Sout decided to ask for a loan to buy more chickens and she would use the rest of the loan to buy piglets for breeding. She has two children, one of whom is employed in a garment factory while the other is attending the local school.

Five members in this group are applying for end-of-term (EoT) loans and the rest have monthly payment loans. Those receiving EoT loans are not required to pay any principal on the loan until the very end of the loan term. End-of-term loans are AMK’s main product because it is the most beneficial to Cambodia’s poor. It allows them to repay portions of the principal whenever they are financially able to. Most clients start to make payments many months before the end of the loan term. Almost all of AMK’s clients make their payments on time. AMK has a delinquency rate of only 0.09% and AMK has a default rate of 0% on Kiva.

Mr. Jorge is 28 years old, single, and lives in a well-known area in the city of Ita. He is in the business of the purchase and sale of garments such as jeans, t-shirts, sportswear, etc., on cash or credit. He started this business on the recommendation of a relative who is in the same business. At the same time he owns a brick workshop, located in his home, that he inherited from his father who was in that industry. The two businesses generate very good income owing to the fact that he purchased a truck of great capacity in which he transports his bricks to different construction sites in the area.

He needs a loan in order to purchase more garments as he wants to increase his stock of garments and thereby be able to offer more variety to his clientele. At the same time he needs to purchase adobe (the main material utilized in the production of bricks) in order to be able to satisfy the great demand that he currently has.

How easy! Thanks Kiva!

*** PS - Any of you lovely readers who want to tease me about this being one of my "do-gooder" things, please keep in mind that I WAS GOOGLING WHERE TO BUY JASMINE FLOWERS FOR A MARTINI RECIPE!!! ***

A Visit by Three Little Things and an Aussie

2009-05-13T13:06:00.026-04:00

You know what this means ...

Trundle open ... clean sheets...

Pack 'N' Play in the guest room...

Picnic table out ... Dining room table pushed aside... chairs strategically pushed toward Great-Grandmother's china cabinet as a barrier...

Sippy cups and plasticware: all hands on deck!

The KIDS ARE COMING! In this case, Things 1, 2, and 3! (You didn't know Dr. Seuss had a Thing 3, did ya?)

Meredith looking all chipper .... I think she was just happy to get off of 95 South!

Fair is fair. If you're going to steal a Mom of three kids away for an Oscars Weekend, then you'd better be prepared to pay the piper. In this case, the Suburban Daddy.

First stop: Maymont! (Where actually I'd been less than 13 hours earlier for a fundraiser - oh well, I can't get enough!)

Aunt Crazy with a struggling Thing 3, Thing 2 and Thing 1

Watching the River Otters

Finn, you cannot swim with the turtles.

You can, however, get from one level to the other by climbing under the bench.

But you probably shouldn't splash so vigorously in the fish exhibit. Maybe we should go outside...

Running into Emily Menard in the parking lot!

Geeding the baby goat

Checking out the black bear ...

Shane and Keegan resting

Shane

Onward and upward!

Finn feeding the baby goat a stick

Come on ... you would have taken the picture too. Oh yeah, and in case you were thinking of ... hmmm... "entering," remember to heed the warning of the big No Entrance sign in the corner.

After lunch and naps, we didn't make it in time to the Strawberry Street Festival, but we went over to Fox Elementary anyway to play on the jungle gym. (Do kids still call it a jungle gym, or do I sound as old as I feel?)

Shane spinning around (this was much better than the bucket he got stuck spinning around in earlier - poor thing looked like a human top!)

Finn executing his signature "Hi-YAH!" move with the playground dirt. Thank you Backyardigans! Apparently it isn't unique to Finn, though!

Shane, Keegan and Meredith

Keegan was a terrific spinner!

Shane and Keegan played really well - I don't think my sister and I were ever that nice to each other!

The antics of these three boys in a bathtub have already been well documented, but here's some shots of them in Aunt Crazy's tub anyway!

Finn

Keegan treating my shower cord like a horse harness!

Shane... No, it's not what you think, but it sure looks funny anyway!!

We didn't COMPLETELY abandon our diet from the Oscar weekend just because the kids were in town ... we can cook dinner and drink wine too! Meredith found this wine ... I found it both hilarious and delicious.

The boys ate dinner SO NICELY! It was crazy! They also watched the entire movie The Lion King. Even Finn! I couldn't believe it.

Good night Shane!

Good night Keegan! (Yes, he read that book ALL BY HIMSELF ... he is 5 & 1/2!!!)

Sunday Morning

My newly decorated family room. :-) I actually like it this way ... it's nice to see the ENTIRE SUNDAY PAPER withough having to flip.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes

A morning trip to the Capital of Virginia (designed by Thomas Jefferson!) to work off the chocolate chip pancakes before getting in the car.

Shane and Keegan running to the George Washington statue

Finn looking on from the bench

Keegan, Shane, Finn, Aunt Crazy, and about 1,000,000,000 ants.

Playing hide and go seek

Finn found a fun tree ...

... which turned into a great photo op!

Thing 1, Thing 2, and Thing Aunt Crazy

Shane looking up from clenching his Mom's leg

Good-bye Shane! (Meredith actually told me later that before they got back on the highway, Shane already wanted to know when they were coming back. Anytime!!!)

Adios Keegan!

Finn, Meredith, Shane and Keegan walking back to the car

Farewell SuburbanFamily!!

And Hello Crocodile Dundee! OK, OK... I won't perpetuate the stereotype, but after everyone left Sunday morning, I showered and met Padma and her boyfriend Daniel (from Adelaide, Australia) at Mo and Geoff's house.

Mr. Tabby

Mo's Menagerie in the backyard

Hahahaha - This reminded me of the Smurfs.

Padma and Daniel outside Pizza Fusion

After an optional vegetarian lunch at Pizza Fusion (which might be my new favorite restaurant - it was AWESOME!!), we hit the new Dave & Busters in Short Pump.

Padma trying to make the coins fall...

I think Daniel played every game in the place!

Including a requisite game of Pac Man.

This was our favorite: Deal or No Deal. As you can see, Mo is doing well, with the 3 remaining suitcases containing either 16, 150 or 300 tickets!

So naturally she picks the one with 16 tickets. :) Oh well! It's not Vegas!

Time to cash in the tickets for some loot.

After saying good-bye to Mo, Geoff, Daniel and Padma, I went home to do what every self-respecting carnivore does after a day of hanging out with kids and vegetarians: I threw a steak on the grill.

OK, OK ... two. But I had them marinating to make for Meredith the night before and we made pizza instead, so I had to cook them! I'll be eating cow for a week.

That's fine with me.

Hey! It's a grass-fed, free-range, antibiotic and hormone-free cow, anyway! :)

With a $5 bottle of wine imported from Italy by Trader Joes.

A girl can't be green ALL of the time! Sometimes thriftiness wins ... c'mon! A $5 bottle of Montepulciano? It was delicious too!!

Outlet Shopping and Major Life Events

2009-05-07T11:16:00.010-04:00

Last weekend Mo and I drove up to Hagerstown, MD to meet Jenna. Hagerstown, I have discovered, is the perfect halfway point to catch up with friends from Pittsburgh. Since Jenna would be driving from Pittsburgh, this made sense! So we put May 2nd on the calendar for some outlet shopping and gossip ... and not necessarily in that order.

Jenna at the Lucky outlet

Mission I: Get Mo into a reasonable, gorgeous pair of Lucky Brand jeans. I am a huge Lucky Brand jeans evangelist. The best thing that could possibly happen to me is if they start making Lucky Brand jeans in organic cotton. Then I will know I have died and gone to heaven.

After Jenna wore a pair of mine in Charleston last year, she too saw the light and started buying them for herself and her husband. Still, she swears the pair of mine that she tried on were the best.

After trying on no less than 30 pairs of jeans, Mo bought a pair ... which we promptly returned the next morning. What happened was that she ALSO tried on my jeans and decided that out of all the jeans in the store, the ones I had worn (same pair that Jenna tried in Charleston) were the best! Therefore she would not settle for the pair she had purchased; she decided to keep trying Lucky stores throughout the land until she found THE PAIR OF JEANS that fit her like these. *Any self-respecting woman from a first world country reading this is nodding her head in agreement right now. This IS a noble quest.*

I always thought the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants was fiction ... until now. Mo went home with my jeans. When something remarkable happens to her in them or when someone else needs them, she has vowed to put them in the mail and send them to us.

Mo picking the onions off of her quesadilla at Barefoot Bernies

The server offered to take it back, but she promised him she'd let him know if she could still taste them when she was done. Jenna got to eat her guacamole and sour cream, so it wasn't a total loss.

A few days later in Cary, NC, in the middle of tornado warnings, my gorgeous little niece decided to crash into some molding between the laundry room and the kitchen, producing a gash in her forehead.

Things are done slightly differently than they were done when I was a kid. For example, there is now such a thing as a Pediatric Urgent Care. What happened to those incompetent doc-in-a-boxes that we had when we were children? Also you don't HAVE to get a shot of novacaine to prepare you for stitches nowadays. Apparently they can just apply a little numbing gel to your forehead while you play in the kid-friendly waiting room for 30 minutes!

Lauren, pre-stitches... post-anaesthesia.

When she was fully numb, they took her back to the room where she received one stitch on the inside and 5 on the outside. In order to do that, the doctor used "stitch scissors" to sew her up. As Lauren was leaving the room (and entering the waiting room with children who had yet to have their treatments!), she turned to the doctor and said "It didn't even hurt when you cut my head open with the scissors." WHAT???

Lauren post-stitches

It just goes to show you: kids are RESILIENT. Parents and Aunts Crazy, not so much.

That same night - oblivious to the happenings in North Carolina - Nicole and I went to our friend Bill's web site launch. He's put together a handy-dandy little site for things to do in and around Richmond. I put a link to this on the right. Personally, I really love the format! Very simple.

Bill and his web designer at Easy Street

More happy news! The Hendersons have officially adopted Baby Anna!! This is the best development of the week by far. I am so happy for Jen, Dave, Anna ... even Nomini the dog! They are a wonderful family. Here's a picture of the OFFICIAL Henderson family with the judge - YEAH!!!!

And since we're on the topic of outlet shopping and Anna, here is another picture of the little sweetie in the sunflower outfit I sent her after outlet shopping with my Mom in Florida in April. Could this be a disease??

SUMMER IS HERE! Well, almost.

2009-05-01T14:48:00.017-04:00

Here are some highlights from last weekend - really productive and REALLY fun!

On Friday I used my Volunteer Day at work (Dominion gives on day of volunteer time a year) to participate in Rebuilding Together, formerly known as "Christmas in April." It was fantastic! It was extremely well organized, and Ms. Edwards (homeowner) was both gracious and grateful. Very rewarding work.

The Dominion Team arrives.

My team was charged with stripping, caulking, priming and painting the window trim.

This is Ginger with Ms. Edwards helping her sort through what to keep and what to toss... Yes! That all came out of her shed!

Being the Greenie-wanna-be that I am, I volunteered to recycle the two televisions. The nice side benefit of doing this is that Goodwill gives you a receipt, so she can deduct them on her taxes. Every little bit helps!

Being the electric company, we had the guys with the skills to work the circuit breaker!

Kitchen midday.

Boxed lunches ... yum.

Midday painting in the Family Room.

Hanging a new side door and frame.

Oil tanks were all rusted out ... now they're painted and pretty!

Side railings and fence were painted to cover age and rust.

Grand finale - fresh new Family Room!

Brand new countertop, sink and faucet!

New Shed door, clean shed, and newly painted trim!

The final result: Dry, Safe, and Warm.

I told Ms. Edwards at the end of the day that she handled our intrusion pretty well. I'd have been a nervous wreck with 30 people tearing through my house and belongings. She said "Good intrusion! Wonderful intrusion! I'll take that intrusion any time. Doesn't it smell nice in here?"

So after a day of Rebuilding Richmond, I met Padma at my house and we went to Yoga Wabi Sabi. It wasn't my most impressive practice ever - I was sore and I was using a towel for a yoga mat! - but it was fun, nonetheless. The art was wonderful, and we had chocolate and wine afterwards. Just like the ancient Hindu yogis did in 3,000 BC ... I'm sure of it.

The class - that's Nicole's head in front.

I was teasing Padma about her cell phones ... one for domestic calls and one for texting Daniel in Australia.

After a hard morning of yardwork, Padma and I went to the Maymont's Herbs Galore to check out the goods. It was pretty warm but it was a beautiful day overall!

Saturday night we met up with Nicole again (she can't get enough of me!) to go to a friend's 40th birthday party in the Fan. It was really good to have a reason to shower after 2 days of sweat and dirt!

I said goodbye to Padma on Sunday morning and met Susan at the new Bowtie Theatre for Movies & Mimosas. What a deal! $5.50 to watch Vertigo and $2 for a mimosa... worth every penny. It was so much fun!

Ah, Monday. Monday Monday Monday. After preparing the yard for the last couple of weekends, it was time to put sod down. So I was up early and off to Lowes to buy compost and rent a truck, then it was 95 North to the sod farm!

I'd ordered 30 yards of sod from Brookemeade, and I actually watched them cut it for me. This is the machine that measures and chops the sod. The guys hanging off the back roll and stack it onto a pallet.

Unloading the compost and sod into my garage ... don't tear the grass!!!!

Seriously, what was I thinking? My yard isn't even that big but this is hard work!

Almost there... have now edged the entire garden and thinned out / replanted my existing shrubs and flowers...

Water barrel didn't last long ... we haven't had enough rain yet but ...

With all the herbs I planted, it will DEFINITELY be of good use to me soon!

More organic herbs from Maymont...

Tada! The grand finale. I can't wait until my brother comes to visit in June and Christie brings the munchkins up for a mini-Kennedy reunion. If I can remember to water it now and it actually lasts until June, the grass will be tested then!

My weekend ended with Monday night at the Food Bank. Did you know that the Central Virginia Food Bank distributes 70,000 pounds of food EVERY DAY? It was huge! Also last year they merged with Meals on Wheels, bringing the per-meal cost delivered to MoW customers from almost $5 to almost $1!!

I enjoyed the work. We folded boxes that will be used to pack frozen meals for the Meals on Wheels consumers. We also - here was my FAVORITE part - got to sort out the donations! Sorting things is one of my favorite activities, and when I saw the massive containers full of grocery bags with donated food, I was in heaven. We broke them out into categories that are easily "shopable" for the food recipients, such as dried goods, green beans, pumpkin and yams, peanut butter, tomatoes, etc. Then we recycled both the paper AND plastic donation bags, which was just the icing on the cake for me.

Both volunteer events last weekend were great experiences. I look forward to doing them again soon!

Sorting donations

Peanut butter good. :)

Farewell Family B!

2009-04-23T10:04:00.013-04:00

Heigh Ho! Heigh Ho! It's off to Los Angeles to work for Disney they go!

On Sunday, Brian and Hannah were kind enough to set an afternoon aside to say goodbye to their friends from DC. It was a GREAT party. We're going to miss them!!

Brian and Hannah

Aunt Crazy, Hannah, and Meredith

The crowd

This was FUN!! At Hannah's wedding in 2003, Meredith and I sat with Tom and Jerry (I'm not kidding! Those are really their names!) We had a little reunion. They are just as cool as I remember, and I think Jerry is going to join us for a Girls' Trip to LA! Hannah emphasized the spare bedroom. :)

Jerry, Tom, Hannah, Meredith

Guests

Guests

Stacey and her husband (whose name I forgot, like many of the guests! Bad Anne.)

Guests

Some Guests

Stacey's husband at the yummy buffet

Mary, Mary's Husband, guest (I am REALLY horrible at this!)

Guests that are related to each other, maybe?

Guests

Guest, Guest, and Host - Brian

Janeen arrives

Guest, Hannah, Guest and Guest

Guest and Guest

Guests

AHA! People I know!! Meredith and Tim

Meredith and Janeen displaying the collage Mary put together - HILARIOUS

A close up of one of my FAVORITE pics :)

Sarah, Tim, and Meredith

I stayed in the same B&B as these folks in Maine in 2003 for the wedding, and we took an awesome whale-watching trip together!

Sarah and Matt Mattingly

Guest, Hannah, Guest (who looks a lot like my friend Missy - where is Missy?)

Hannah and Brian

Suburban Mommy and her "ex", Daddy B

Brian and Tim

More collage ... SERIOUSLY funny stuff!!

Brian and Janeen... Wow. Did I mention this was funny????

I love this picture of Brian and Hannah. We missed seeing Madeleine though!

Guest and Hannah

Stuff from Guests

Dinner club!

Tim, Meredith and Janeen ... Yes, Tim IS that tall and Janeen IS that short. :)

Bye Bye Hannah!!! We will miss you!! Take care of yourself!

Yes, I know ... enough pictures already. :)

FOOD

2009-04-20T12:50:00.022-04:00

Do I have your attention? Who doesn't love food, right??

Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle

(purchased by Aunt Crazy from Action Photo Company)

OK, I'll admit it: I have a weakness for idealists. A big one. Idealists with IDEAS. "Actionable ideas" as my coworker says. Individuals who do the homework and then stick their necks out and say "Hey, let's try this to make the world better." I love that stuff and tend to follow this kind of person around like a hungry, stray dog; idealists are my Achilles Heel, you might say.

Last year, my friends Brian, Hannah, and their daughter Madeleine visited, and Brian told me about this book The Omnivore's Dilemma. I loved it! I learned so much about where food comes from.

I found out that the author, Michael Pollan, would be coming to Richmond to speak at The Richmond Forum. I waited for tickets to go on sale and called the day they did. Sold out! So I posted a desperate ad on my company's bulletin board, and a very nice lady sold me her tickets. The good news: they were right in the Orchestra section! The bad news: they weren't together. Still, I was ecstatic to get my hands on them.

I asked my friend Nicole to go and when she mentioned to her friend Stacey at yoga that she would be going, Stacey told her that Michael Pollan himself would be visiting her city garden the next day! Nicole scored us an invite!

It was so fun. First of all, the garden was gorgeous. An effective, functioning, inner-city, organic garden! I was extremely impressed. Second of all, Michael Pollan was so nice! He signed a card for my friend Brian and wrote "Vote with your fork!" As an economics major, that really spoke to me. :) I suppose he could have also put a play on the old saying "put your money where your mouth is", but it would not have sounded as cool.

Aside to Lindsey and Samantha if you're reading this: Where were you? You were under STRICT INSTRUCTIONS to stand by and watch the back of my jeans! Yep, you guessed it. Right in front of everyone, I dropped the piece of paper that Pollan signed, bent over to pick it up and RIP!! Kennedy's left butt cheeck busted right out of her pants. I know you were in Maryland and you were given the task of watching this particular pair of jeans about 3 months ago, but I am still disappointed in you. How embarrassing ... even for me!

Nicole in front of Tricycle Garden in Church Hill.

What would Tricycle Garden be without an actual tricycle on the entryway?

Stacey, Nicole's friend who helps manage the garden, explaining to Nicole about how the rainwater cistern works.

Pretty flower

Stacey with Michael Pollan

Marion Nestle and Michael Pollan - I didn't realize that was Marion Nestle or I would have taken more pictures of the FRONT of her. :) She gave an amazing presentation Saturday evening.

Hanging out in the garden in front of the "repurposed" shed ... the doors were a work of art and curved to close flush with the shed. The outer shingles were made from Number 10 cans (donated and cut by Ukrops for the garden.)

Not everyone was there to discuss local, organic gardening.

Michael Pollan talking to more folks.

Nicole checks out the herbs in Stacey's plot.

Not sure what caused the grimace!

I don't know what this photographer took with his Rolleiflex, but I was mesmorized and took a picture of him taking it!

A plotowner and his daughter (lower left) were actually there to weed! We loved her fairy wings.

A couple of boys playing in the gardens.

Nicole's a sucker for a kitty cat.

Stacey eating a freshly picked asparagas.

Refreshments for the guests

Theme of the day: let photosynthesis feed you!

Stacey and Nicole

Hanging in the shade with possibly one of the cutest babies I've ever seen.

A few hours later, Nicole and I grabbed dinner at Cous Cous before the event. (Thank you Entertainment Book!)

There was a VERY successful Farmers Market in the basement of the Landmark.

Marion Nestle and Michael Pollan purchasing at the Farmers Market

(purchased by Aunt Crazy from Action Photo Company)

Virginia Grown gave away reusable bags. Some people used them to tote home goodies from the Virginia growers who had booths. I was SOOOO tempted to take home some gorgeous tomato plants, but my yard is not quite ready yet.

Tricycle Gardens had a booth - Nicole talked to Stacey about upcoming classes.

Our great seats ... perfect location, but not together! This is Nicole in front of me, politely turning off her cell phone before the show.

Our seats!! This was taken during the Question and Answer period at the end. I have circled us in red.
(purchased by Aunt Crazy from Action Photo Company)

Thanks to everyone! It was a perfect day!!!

Monument Avenue Easter Parade

2009-04-18T16:23:00.007-04:00

Last Sunday, Nicole, Janeen and I walked up to Monument Avenue to experience the annual Easter Parade. Oy, what a sight! There was a lot more going on than I thought... Janeen and I were completely overstimulated. The first 10 minutes I just walked around with my jaw dropped!

Cute little girl in her Easter best.

Janeen

Nicole and Janeen and hot dog

Bubble clown lady on bike

The crowds stretched for about a mile, I'd guess

I like this gentleman's Easter Egg Dreds and his little bunny cup.

Bands played at Lee Circle.

Lee Circle - Robert E. Lee monument

Homeowners were very hospitable ... is that Scarlett O'Hara or a flamenco dancer?

Bunny in basket

This gives new meaning to "top hat and tails"! I dig his shoes, too.

Chess tournament

Scotsman by the Jefferson Davis monument

Couple with hats ... Scotsman to the left, Patriot with Easter bonnet to the right ... do you now get why I was overstimulated??

Davis and Monument Avenue

Doggie with Snoopy tie

Ladies with lovely hats and their escort, who shook his hat off just prior to this picture.

The Winners! In my mind, anyway ... these were the best hats I saw all day.

I won!

2009-04-13T16:52:00.006-04:00

I'm so excited! My name was selected from a group of Suburban Daddy readers by "Thing 1" in this video. I wonder what little munchkins will soon receive a brand new Sesame Street video! Probably the Luals, actually. Thanks Suburban Daddy!!

Another One Bites The Dust!

2009-04-13T14:06:00.007-04:00

Last weekend was Soo's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette! My signature "single friend" and Austin, TX playmate is getting hitched. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I'm so happy for her it's actually hard to put on the pout like I'd like to!

Soo Kang ... soon-to-be Soo Johnson

The Bridal Shower

The food - man, it was so good I cannot even DESCRIBE it. Our hostess, Joanne - who actually owns an entire APPLIANCE for Kimchi refrigeration - was able to make a delicious meal that fit our diverse palates.

Soo and Aunt Crazy

I knew this was going to be a great picture of Cindy!!

Laughing at the price tag still on - Oops!

Great gifts! Ca-ching!

This was funny ... Donna, one of Soo's friends, has a son who apparently tossed this toy in her present. Apparently Donna and her husband had been looking for this odd little creature for a week!!

Nice picture of Soo watching the "veil making game." I think she had a great day.

June, Soo, Suzi and Neffi

Joanne, Cindy, Soo and Donna

Kwang took this game VERY seriously ... she actually SEWED the flowers on the veil!

Lenear, Soo, and Luann

Tokey, Soo and Kwang

Soo's "Veil of Choice" to wear to the bachelorette party! (Mostly because it was the most durable; I'll admit, I didn't buy the MOST quality materials at Ben Franklin!)

Soo and her UVA friends, Suzi, Joanne and June (who actually married one of their college friends)

Preparations for the Bachelorette begin back at Soo's condo ... water, wine, nametags, and a wine stopper and shot glass in the required .... hmmm, likeness.

All ready for an evening out at Cork!

Aunt Crazy (Anne), Neffi, Soo and Lenear

Our VERY patient waitress and Cindy.

We chose this wine because of the description. I love that - "Good mouthfeel." They don't lie, either! It really did!

Soo and one of SEVERAL bottles of wine.

The only disappointment was the $9 cookie tray ... not much and not good. Otherwise, this place was AMAZING! Everyone was so nice and everything was extremely reasonable. Plus I am absolutely CONVINCED that this is where all of the attractive people in Washington DC go - I've never seen such a handsome crowd! Naturally, we fit right in. :)

The crowd - Anne (me), Neffi, Lenear, Soo and Cindy

Sookie

AHA! When the check was paid and we stood up to leave, we finally drew the attention of a table of guys, who bought us another round. I was glad for that. Every bachelorette should have a guy buy her a drink on her last night of freedom, don't you think?

Goofing off

Soo says farewell to Neffi and Lenear as they catch a separate cab.

Mystery man - who said "No pictures - I work for The Agency" - fends off my paparazzi attacks. You didn't see him here, folks.

Soo, Aunt Crazy, Boy, other Boy, Cindy