New 'do!

Monumentous event for me on Sept. 3rd:
Got back to a more natural dark color w/o the red undertones...

 and added flirty bangs...

Whatcha think??

Pity Party Drunkard

Hey ev'rbody...

Thankths fer comin'.
[smacks tongue in between lips twice and hiccups softly].
Oops, 'scuse me.
Uhh, not suurre wh, whhyyy no more peoples sthowed up to thisss little sshhindig?
I figured LOTS of pity-goers would be lined up for thisss Par-TAAYY.

Oh, lookie! Selfishness came! [jumping up and down but stops abruptly and covers her mouth]. I just *hiccup* luff herrr. She's jus' so, sooo...centered, you know? Oo! Hey, Ignorance! [begins to whisper] I luff her, too but not all the lighbulbs came with the chandelier, if ya know what I meeaan. Ssshhhh [roughly puts a finger to her lips, distorting them]...that'sth our little secreT. Let's seeee, I saw Common Sense, but she left already. It's ok, she's like NO fun anyway. I hope Depression comes,though...now that one, she reeeally knows how to get doowwnnnn!

Hmmm, weird [wrinkles nose and forehead].......didn't anybody else get the invites? *hiccup* I sent them out, like, like, uhhhhhhhhh, [counts on fingers], a monf ago. I spefisically, specifislee, spec-i-fi-cally said I didn't want anybo'y to bother me! Which means I really DO want people to bother me!! [sniffles]. But not like bother, bother me...jus' show up...and *hiccup* pity *hiccup* wiff me!
You'd fink they'd know that by NOW. [pouts excessively and wipes nose all the way across sleeve].
But nobody sthowed up to my last party, *hiccup*, no body showeded up to that one either.
Hmrph! I may jus' have to find some, some new frans. [stamps her foot and twirls clumsily to leave but runs into a brick wall and knocks herself out cold].   

*Due to the damage caused to my ego combined with complete waste of time and cycle of self-loathing that stalls any form of personal progress or intelligent decisions to be made, I regret to inform you that there will be no more Pity Parties being hosted at my house.

Cruisin' Along in 2010

Here are some pics from our recent vacation for your enjoyment.
We headed down to our port city, New Orleans, a day and a half early because we had never been and wanted to see it.
Needless to say, this was our first and probably last time to visit New Orleans. Although it is beautiful in some parts and has a wide range of personalities, it is the filthiest city, in every sense of the word, I have ever been to.
I did love the bold architecture like this here at the Hotel Monteleon.

The corner of famous Bourbon and Canal Streets.

Downtown Bourbon.

We ran into lots of eccentric and flashy people. I couldn't get Garrett to take a picture with this guy "wearing way too much pink" for his liking.

There were lots of bands playing on the street for tips.

Another street show. She was a fantastic belly dancer.

We took the Haunted Ghost tour of New Orleans that night. Way fun to hear about some of the city's most notorious skeletons in the closet.

Eerie shadow of the Christus on the town hall.

Daphne bracing herself to try an oyster for the first time.

Sniff, sniff.

Open wide and swallow hard, babe!

No chewing!!

And it's gone! She did it!

So, Abby wanted to try one.

Not bad.

Outside of the famous Cafe Du Monde restaurant after getting some yummy beignets for breakfast.

There she is!! The Carnival Triumph!

Our Cozumel port of call.

We took a taxi to the beach and lounged for a few hours.

On the pier, were we ravaged by pirates!

The puppet said we had too many kids and she knew how to fix that!

All the kiddos.

Still my little Casanova.

Beach babes!

All the gang getting ready to snorkel.

Me and my sexy man.

We found this guy wandering around and decided to share some of our tortilla chips with him.

Then, these pretty things walked by but they were not as impressed with out offering and quickly scurried away.

It was time to go back to the boat and we found this couple, completely sauced - to the point that he couldn't walk. We offered to help them back to their boat, the Inspiration, docked right next to ours.

(Where's Collin? He's smashed into the wife's neck! lol!!)

He kept saying "Hoo-rah!" to Collin because he found out Collin served in the Air Force and he was a retired Marine himself. He even shed a tear that one of his Military buddies was heloing him out. When we arrived at their boat he kissed Collin on the  head to thank him. Jonathan saw what was coming and though  he tried to avoid the inevitable incoming smooch, the guy was too strong and planted one right on Jonathan's cheek! I wish I'd had my video camera!

Upon arrival back to our boat, Collin realized he had left his formal attire at home. But no worries! He fashioned this little number out of one of the stateroom towels. With my and Daphne's accesories he was all set for Captain's night! 

Now to just get the sashay down pat!

At dinner in the Paris Lounge. Dinner every night was a feast fit for kings!

All the other kids were at Camp Carnival having too much fun to come eat with mom and dad!

Me and Daphne having a moment.

Some of the fancy photography on board.

I had this one made into a canvas.

And look what we have here...Don't worry, though. We authorized the smashing out of our back window to rescue 2 of our cats who had been locked inside with no food, water or litter box for the entire duration of our cruise! Yeah, I'm sure you can imagine the mess so I'll spare the details.

Ah! The joy of surprises!

Kick It, Hit It, Tag It!

As I mentioned in the earlier posts, we are busy and Saturdays are filled with games our kids participate in.
Daphne was in softbal before tennis started. Here some shots of her on the field.
She's in the back ready for a fly ball.

And here's the pitch...


Abby just got into soccer and absolutely loves it. I knew she would when she asked to play. The game just seems to fit her personality.

And then there's my Gare-Bear. My football playing, flag stealin' little man. This is going to be a fun season!