handsome hunds!

hedwig is with me and ludwig is snuggling his nose into the box behind with brown doxie. they are less than 3 weeks old here so they don't have any noses yet. so sweet!!

our neighbors are doing a fantastic job of providing us a fence. we only have a tiny bit to do. and once the pups get a bit older, they'll probably go with gabe to work and with him on his evening walks. they won't be bored!

french quarter fest rocks!

we def just happened upon this free event in april and loved it. streets closed for musicians, jackson square filled with old ragtime... pure bliss. we will be back every year!

and a year passes by...

officially then, i am horrid at communication. here i am, alive and well (ahem?) and trying desperately to find lovely tulips online for bulk delivery. nothing like a little procrastination to spur the creative juices of blogging. in fact, i believe that i started blogging in order to avoid studying in grad school. lol.

yesterday i got a nice 9-miler in with gorgeous sunny skies, low humidity-felt like seattle in summer. a perfect day for a run and i was pleased with my time. i averaged 7:30 miles without being tired or sore at the end (prob should have gone a bit harder, eh? yea, i don't know either.) and i only suffered one major meltdown (double blisters on both of my arches and this damn muscle cramp that would NOT go away). but in the end, i only walked for 3 minutes altogether and this factored into my average time. good deal!

ANYWAY, the real point is to show off one of our little puppies. mini dachshunds that we will get to pick up after thanksgiving. eeeiiii! brother (ludwig) and sister (hedwig) both black and tans.

WEDDING:
yes, i will try to provide some info/links regarding upcoming party. i am getting so excited now! gabe is a very good bride and did all of the invitations (and i do mean every aspect of them) while i was gone in denver-all i had to do was stamp them! lovely boy... we even managed to get registed at belk and jcpenney since his folk want to have a shower. fortunately, we will both be going to the shower so at least i will know someone there! the most exciting part for me is that my dress came in and i was scared it was going to be hideous, but, viola, it is perfect. thank goodness! so now i am not worried about too much because we are going to have fun no matter what happens. even if the place burns to the ground or the food is awful, we are never off course for long in the french quarter!

here is the skeleton for the evening in case i put the wrong addresses on the list or you lost your invitation already or i forgot to mail your invitation and you want to come anyway :D

13 January 2007

St. Louis Hotel Courtyard
Rue Bienville, French Quarter (head down Bourbon from Canal and take a Right on Bieville)
New Orleans, Louisiana

1830 ceremony
1900 reception

http://www.neworleansweddings.com/overview.html
http://www.nola.com/entertainment/
http://www.gambitweekly.com/

that seems to be all the essentials with a bit of an idea as to what is going on in the city... hats are encouraged (any type will do) as i will be sporting a lovely 50's costume. we'll be staying in the quarter at least friday and saturday nights and perhaps thursday as well? not sure yet. gabe and i are leaving sunday morning for hawaii and monday is MLK day for those wanting a long weekend away (and an extra day to recover).

we carved pumpkins on sunday and i took gabe to his first oktoberfest. i think both activities were a blast and i must say that gabe's dancing is really coming along... esp when drunk... esp with oom-pah bands...

luvs.m

and yes, we will be in seattle for thanksgiving, but unfortunately we will be leaving before the seattle marathon. that was definitely a short-sighted plan on my part. next year!

a day on the slopes at crystal mtn... it is impossible to top mt. rainier! 

getting closer to galileo!

a huge congrats to my friends from surrey satellites for their successful launch of a technology tester... i'm keeping my fingers crossed for the continued good fortune of the mission :D

merry christmas! and i best say happy new year while i'm at it too! i do hope that all are enjoying the holiday and feeling the true spirit of the season. i spent christmas morning organizing closets, running, and packaging hot meals for folks in need. i had a magical christmas eve too... the music, the candlelight, my $3 skirt... it really created a lasting impression for me. i def had a piece of magic and i feel so lucky :D i stayed in mississippi for christmas because i hate to travel twice to seattle within a month and i have a ton of work to do. indeed, i went home for thanksgiving and got to go skiing (amazing!) but then got super sick (crap!). and i have to apologize to everyone in seatown because honestly, i just couldn't get out of bed. i only got up for thanksgiving dinner because i'm sure me mum would have had a fit otherwise... and i didn't go to see my family in order to sleep the entire time! i am starting to feel better now so i won't complain too much. and, knock on wood, i think that the staph infection may actually be gone. muh. only took like 10 rounds of drugs.

so i found this running race that is taking place on saturday and i might just go for it! lol. i'm not so much a runner but maybe it will be fun :D we are having ridiculously brilliant weather (~70f) but i do believe it is supposed to rain on saturday. what could be better than running in the rain? hey, who's up for tahoe in march? i guess i need to look at plane tix too. so much scheduling to work out and not enough facts to make a functional go at it.

anyway, i am too tired to ramble on with much vigor. i had to think really hard for 9 hours today and i am totally zapped. man, i've got the travel bug. i need to go somewhere. does anyone have any ideas? i am up for a grand adventure i think.

i love you all as much as i ever did and miss you even more! your accomplishments and friendship are truly awesome and i hope all is well.

xoxo.m

ps- super belated birthday wishes to dinesh and erika! 21 days late... oooh! ;-)

you guys aren't going to believe it, but i haven't shaved my head or dyed my hair. i know, i know-i feel so outstandingly boring! well, not precisely, but it is a bit strange. i think i will just grow my hair out to the ground :D

welcome to medieval life... the 'new normal' 

from the great beyond

she's back! from the hell that is surviving a hurricane... having your life turned upside down... losing many friends... watching more people lose it all... it has been 2.5 months since a gal named katrina came to town and it is a mess folks. i am just now on the brink of putting my life back together and i am one of the lucky ones. i have seen so many good things and so many bad things-the amplitude of the sine curve is amazing sometimes. the best part is that i have a job and my house is in the midst of mostly minor repairs and i have gained many friends. i'm starting to manage to avoid spontaneous crying episodes although i have been putting off a visit to my friendly fema official...

the one thing i am thankful for is that time keeps marching on whether i am ready for it to or not. and the only thing that got me through many days were the cute and caring emails from friends halfway around the world-you really cannot know how much your quick emails meant to me in the face of total darkness and despair. i used to think that i was very strong and independent, but this disaster reminds me that i need love and support too. i have felt an acute lonliness that i have never yet know and i hope to never experience again. and the navy has been outstanding to its civilian personnel in ways that most of us could never repay.

things are far from 'normal' and will not be so for several years. that's okay-i just don't think about it too much. i have some things that i need to work on and i think that this storm just helps me to see that quicker than i might otherwise have. it is a situation unlike anything else and one that you cannot fathom (which is a good thing) but in other respects it is just like everything else-change and adaptation are the only constant things in life. we just are lucky enough to experience this to the extreme!

i just wanted to say 'hi' to everyone and let you know i was okay. in the time since katrina i have become an expert roofer (thanks to hurricane rita), shot 3 different types of handguns, cried in front of people that i do not know, provided a shoulder to cry on to more people that i do not know, been helped by people i have never seen nor will ever see again, realized that i should be a home remodeler because i rip out sheet rock like a fiend, and come to understand more about human compassion than i ever hoped to know. so, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for caring enough to ask how things are and remind me that you care. bless you!

luvs.m

ps- HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTI! luv you!

sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy

-Thich Nhat Hanh

a little more hair and + 

aggregates

it goes without saying that lots of very small, very exciting things add up to very great returns rather quickly! i can see that i have not updated some lovely changes...

i bought a miata! sold the truck in 2 days and found the perfect car to buy in the same number of days. contrary to popular belief, the trunk is pretty good on my wee sportscar. i got a lawn mower in it this weekend and i also managed to get a wheelbarrow home as well (not in the trunk though). and the convertible... ah, need i say more with weather that is mid-70's and full of sun? nah.

leadingly, this weekend was fab-u-lous so i started a (slightly larger than originally planned) project to make a patio off the front of the house so i can sit in both the front and the back... it started out being about 10 ft x 5 ft and has ended up closer to 22 ft x 10 ft. ummmmmm, yep. it is going to be great! hopefully i will finish it before i turn 25 :D .

my good friend cathy eloped a couple weeks ago to a courthouse in exotic gulfport (about 15 minutes away) so we had a bit of a girl's night out this weekend. it was great! we had so much fun just watching other people and i think it did us all a bit of good to get out and away from our yards for a little bit. :D haha-the gardening gurus!

i am also getting some of my house put very slowly together. the kitchen is practically done and now i have branched into the living room and the master bedroom. simultaneously. not such a good idea when you are as scattered as i am but c'est la vie. plus the garden. anyway, i estimate that in about a year i will be settled. :P in the meantime, i have good incense which is almost like being settled.

i am so excited for nick-o's wedding! i can't wait to see everyone! yay! it's so weird to be "homesick" for france and europe and all the awesome people. i think we need to have some type of reunion every year... or maybe someone could just get married every year. yea, maybe we should plan that out.

anyway. that is the bare essentials of what i know for right now... of course there are always lots of projects to dream about and books to read and paintings to be started and poems to be written... so you know that i am always having fun-i just hope everyone else is too!

hugs and kisses.m :D